Employees at Dollywood working 9 to 5, or other schedules, will soon be eligible for a new program paying 100% of tuition, fees and books if they want to seek degrees or other educational opportunities.
Herschend Enterprises, Dolly Parton’s operating partner in Dollywood, will fund the educational fees through a new program called GROW U. It will be available for seasonal, part-time and full-time employees beginning Feb. 24.
Herschend Enterprises will offer the program to 11,000 employees at Dollywood Parks & Resorts in addition to employees at its attractions across the country.
The GROW U program offers workers more than 100 diploma, degree and certificate programs from 30 “learning partners,” according to a Tuesday news release from Dollywood. It will also provide partial funding, up to $5,250 per year, for 150 other programs in hospitality, engineering, human resources and art design.
“One of The Dollywood Foundation’s key tenets is to ‘learn more.’ This program is created with that very tenet in mind. We want our hosts to develop themselves through advanced learning to fulfill the foundation’s other tenets: care more, dream more and be more. When our hosts strive to grow themselves, it makes our business and our community a truly better place,” Eugene Naughton, president of The Dollywood Co., said in a statement.
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Andrew Wexler, CEO of Herschend Enterprises, said in a statement, “Herschend’s GROW U is not only a significant and transformational investment in our employee’s growth but also our love culture in action.”
Dollywood isn’t the first employer to recently offer educational benefits to employees. Last year, Walmart, Target and other major employers announced tuition assistance programs.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dolly Parton: Tennessee’s Dollywood to pay tuition for all workers
