FCA Dealer Employees Get Free College Tuition

Fiat Chrysler hopes it can help dealers hang on to their employees longer by offering a new program that will pay college tuition costs.

The program starts today at 356 dealerships in FCA US’s southeast region of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama and Tennessee, Automotive News reports. Employees of participating dealerships won’t have to pay any costs out of pocket for the program, which is open to any employee. The education program is meant to help combat what the company says is an especially high turnover rate in the car sales industry.

Participating employees will be able to take individual classes at no charge or pursue an associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degree without paying any money out of pocket. Online classes are available as part of the program as are courses at any of Strayer’s 77 campuses in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

By offering the free education program, FCA hopes its dealers will be able to keep employees longer and attract top talent in the industry. FCA said in any given year its dealer network can lose about half of its sales staff. The high turnover rate costs dealers money in job training and makes it difficult to maintain relationships with customers.

Strayer is a private, for-profit accredited university based on Washington D.C. The average cost of a four-year undergraduate degree at Strayer is $42,000 and $50,000, although the deal FCA made with Strayer includes a much lower price, FCA dealer network boss Al Gardner said. Dealerships that choose to participate will pay a flat fee regardless of how many staff members choose to participate.

The program is currently restricted to FCA’s southeast dealer region, but the company plans to expand the program to its eight other regions in the third quarter of the year.

[Source: Automotive News]