United Parcel Service (UPS) Program Opens Doors For Hispanic Students

The UPS Earn and Learn program&emdash;an innovative combination of part-time work opportunities, tuition assistance and forgivable loans&emdash;is helping Hispanic students overcome the traditional financial barriers they often face in earning a college degree.

The Earn and Learn program is available to part-time UPS employees at 51 locations throughout the country, including major cities such as Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia. Participants include traditional and non-traditional students, such as retirees and moms re-entering the workforce, who can combine college and flexible evening shifts.

Meeting the rising cost of tuition can be particularly stressful for parents of Hispanic students who, according to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, often feel that college is not an option due to limited financial resources. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that Hispanics have the highest dropout rates (29.5%) of any major racial or ethnic group (ages 16 to 24); only 10.3 percent of all Hispanic adults (ages 25 and up) have a bachelor's degree, compared with 24.6 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

According to Hispanic Scholarship Fund President and CEO Sara Martinez Tucker, initiatives such as the UPS Earn and Learn program are critical to increasing the number of Hispanics earning college degrees.

"Creative programs like UPS's Earn and Learn encourage and enable Hispanic students to pursue a college education by providing them financial assistance and flexible work hours that complement their class schedule," said Tucker. "This type of innovative approach by corporations is key to increasing the number of Hispanics earning college degrees."

UPS has helped more than 30,000 students across the country offset the costs of college tuition and has invested more than $47 million in the Earn and Learn program. Funds may be used towards tuition, approved mandatory fees and book fees of up to $65 per class.