Uber will offer free tuition at Arizona State University to its most seasoned drivers, or their family members, the ride-sharing company and ASU announced Thursday.

The program is similar to a partnership between ASU and Starbucks, where employees of the coffee giant can attend the university for free. That program has been in place since 2014, and about 2,000 Starbucks employees have received ASU degrees so far.

Both of the companies’ tuition perks apply to ASU online programs. The Uber program will initially launch in eight locations, including Phoenix.

Uber’s tuition offer will apply to drivers who have completed more than 3,000 trips and who also have platinum or diamond status. Drivers earn those statuses based on the number of trips they do, and by having at least a 4.85 rating from passengers and low cancellation rates, Uber said.

UBER, ASU: Why we’re offering this program for drivers

The tuition plan is part of a larger roll-out from Uber on Thursday of a program the company is calling Uber Pro, where drivers will be able to get rewards by earning points and moving up in status levels, from partner to gold to platinum to diamond.

Drivers who use the tuition program will be able to choose from more than 80 undergraduate degree programs at ASU Online. They also can take non-degree-seeking courses in English or entrepreneurship.

Drivers in some cities won’t be be eligible right away. The program is first rolling out in eight locations, including Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, New Jersey, New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle and Tampa.

Uber drivers in the U.S. are not considered employees of the company and instead operate as contractors, meaning they do not receive employment benefits such as health insurance, paid leave or retirement plans.

ASU putting up scholarships

ASU will require Uber drivers who want to use the program to fill out a federal financial-aid form and use existing programs the drivers qualify for, such as Pell grants or other federal programs, said Phil Regier, the university’s dean for educational initiatives and CEO of EdPlus, which includes ASU Online. 

ASU also will provide scholarships for each driver and put together a financial-aid package.

Any money that’s left unpaid by aid programs and ASU scholarships will be covered by Uber, Regier said.

Because Uber will bring a large pool of potential students, ASU saves costs on connecting with students one by one, Regier said. The savings are passed on to Uber drivers in the form of a tuition reduction, he said. 

Added costs like books and technology would be covered by the drivers. The drivers also would have to pay applicable income taxes on the tuition coverage, ASU’s website on the Uber program says.

ASU doesn’t have a good idea yet of how many Uber drivers could take advantage of the program, Regier said.

Uber said it has nearly 1 million drivers in the U.S., and more than half of those drive less than 10 hours per week. More than 10,000 drivers are currently eligible in the eight pilot locations, Uber said.

Regier said the tuition-program pilot ends in April 2019 and should expand nationwide after that.

Uber wanted to reward drivers

Ali Wiezbowski, Uber’s product lead, said the company wants to hear from its drivers about how they are using the tuition program and how it’s working before launching nationwide.

That’s how the idea of Uber Pro came about, Wiezbowski said. The company listened to drivers to understand who they were and what they wanted out of the job, then designed Uber Pro, she said.

In that research, the company found that more than half of Uber drivers aimed to start a business in the next five years, and more than one-third speak English as a second language, she said, which is why the tuition program includes English and entrepreneurship classes.

The biggest way the Uber program differs from Starbucks is that Uber will allow drivers to pass their tuition benefit on to a family member.

That includes a spouse or domestic partner, child, sibling, parent or legal guardian or dependent.

“These drivers have invested so much in Uber, so now we see this as a really important opportunity to invest in them and the people that they care about most,” Wiezbowski said.

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