Minnesota-Based Hormel Foods Announces Free College Tuition for Team Members

Hormel Foods, the Fortune 500 global branded food company announced a new opportunity open to eligible team members to earn their college degree or complete non-degree programs for free.

The Minnesota-based company partnered with Workforce Edge, a complete employee education management platform powered by Strategic Education, Inc., to make this benefits expansion possible. Hormel Foods notes they already offered team members extensive educational benefits, including a tuition reimbursement program, which has allowed thousands of Hormel Foods team members in the United States to continue their education after joining the company.

The new program, which is open to all full-time Hormel Foods team members in the United States, provides team members the opportunity to receive a company-funded associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree with Capella University and Strayer University, as well as discounts on tuition at hundreds of well-known colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Hormel says the program offers a wide variety of educational opportunities in various fields of study including science, technology, engineering, math, business, fine and liberal arts, psychology, criminal justice, and legal, including bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs.  It also includes access to over 50 general education-level courses through Sophia Learning, which are ACE recommended for college credit and are designed to be transferred to many colleges and universities.

“Hormel Foods has long supported education as an important investment in our people,” said Katie Larson, senior vice president of human resources at Hormel Foods. “Our team members are the most important part of our company, and we are excited to be able to offer them even greater access to education. It’s an opportunity for us to continue to make a real difference and further invest in the lives and careers of our people.”

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Not only is this a great new opportunity for team members, but Hormel boasts that they were one of the first major companies to offer the opportunity of free college education to the dependent children of its team members through the Inspired Pathways program. To date, more than 1,200 students have utilized these benefits since the program’s inception in August 2020.

There are good reasons the company has received numerous honors and accolades, including being recently named one of the Best Companies to Work For in America by U.S. News & World Report, one of the World’s Top Female-Friendly Companies by Forbes, and one of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies by Newsweek for the second straight year.