You Want College Credit With That? Try McDonald's, Walmart

The cost of a college degree is ever-more skyrocketing, and simply unattainable for some would-be students, sending them into low-paying jobs instead of the ivory tower. But some of those low-paying jobs could get them college credit, reports NPR in a look at the likes of McDonald's and Walmart, which are convincing colleges to award their workers credit for skills learned on the job. That flexibility has long been available at tech giants like Google, IBM, and Microsoft, but not so much for retail or fast-food workers. "For adults who feel like they weren't college material, what we are able to do is say, 'You are. And you're doing college-level work already,'" says Amber Garrison Duncan of the Competency-Based Education Network. Her nonprofit connects colleges and employers.

The theory goes that even if you're flipping burgers, you need to know about handling food safely (and are often required to take a non-college course in the art of not poisoning people), so why shouldn't that translate to credit toward a degree in, say, culinary arts or hospitality? For Walmart employee Bonnie Boop, who returned to college in her 40s with two associates degrees under her belt with her sights set on a bachelors, she also started attending "Walmart Academy" training as she moved up through the company's ranks.

Finding that she'd already taken a business-operations class at her online college, she said, "But I didn't." Her adviser told her, 'Yes, you got credit from Walmart Academy.' And I said, what?" With that credit, Boop graduated much sooner than she would have and now oversees 200 employees. Much more here. (Walmart managers can pull down pretty hefty salaries.)