UMass Boston

UMass Boston Selected by Amazon as an Education Partner for Career Choice Program


01/24/2023| Crystal Valencia

UMass Boston will Provide Amazon Hourly Employees Access to Undergraduate Courses that Apply to an Undergraduate Certificate or Bachelor’s Degree Program

Students in the Campus Center with flags

“ UMass Boston is proud to work with Amazon and their employees to help make their goal of obtaining a college degree possible. ”

UMass Boston is partnering with Amazon to offer the company’s hourly employees access to undergraduate degrees and certificate programs. Through its Career Choice program, Amazon will provide an annual benefit to cover tuition and select fees for all qualifying hourly employees to take courses at the harborside campus.

Amazon employees will have access to UMass Boston undergraduate courses that apply to an undergraduate certificate or bachelor’s degree program in any major of study. The goal is to support Amazon workers to help them learn new skills for career success.

“UMass Boston is proud to work with Amazon and their employees to help make their goal of obtaining a college degree possible,” said Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management John Drew. “The Career Choice program aligns well with UMass Boston’s mission to provide an excellent and accessible university education.”

Through the Career Choice program, participants will have access to UMass Boston’s more than 80 academic programs offered online or in-person, including in-demand programs such as Management, Marketing, Computer Science, Information Technology, and Nursing.

UMass Boston represents the demographic future of higher education. It is an engine for upward mobility for students and economic growth for Boston and the region, fueled by the excellence of its teaching and research faculty. It is the most diverse public university in New England, with a student body that is 60 percent first-generation. More than half of Amazon’s Career Choice participants identify as Black, Hispanic or Native American, which makes UMass Boston an ideal partner to serve the company’s diverse employee population.

“We’re looking forward to UMass Boston coming on board as an education partner for Career Choice, adding to the hundreds of best-in-class offerings available to our employees,” said Tammy Thieman, Global Program Lead of Amazon’s Career Choice program. “We’re committed to empowering our employees by providing them access to the education and training they need to grow their careers, whether that’s with us or elsewhere. We have intentionally created a partner network of third-party educators and employers committed to providing excellent education, job placement resources, and continuous improvements to the experience. Today, over 100,000 Amazon employees around the world have participated in Career Choice and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform their lives.”

For more details about the educational offerings available at UMass Boston through the Career Choice program, visit umb.edu/amazoncareer.

About the Amazon Career Choice Program

Amazon’s Career Choice program is an education benefit that empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. The program meets individual learners where they are on their education journey through a variety of education and upskilling opportunities including pre-paid college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs, and foundational skills such as English language proficiency, high school diplomas, and GEDs. In the U.S., the company is investing $1.2 billion to upskill more than 300,000 employees by 2025 to help move them into higher-paying, in-demand jobs.

Amazon’s Career Choice program has a rigorous selection process for third-party partner educators, choosing partners that are focused on helping employees through their education programs, assisting them with job placements, and overall offering education that leads to career success. For more information on Amazon’s Career Choice, visit: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/career-choice