The Office of Personnel Management established new agreements with four colleges and universities on March 14 to provide federal employees with scholarships and tuition breaks to fill skill gaps in the workforce.
The schools — College for America at Southern New Hampshire University, Drexel University Online, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies and the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business — agreed to the benefits to help develop mission-critical job skills in areas like acquisition, human resources, financial auditing, economics and information technology, particularly in cybersecurity and STEM-related fields, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
OPM said SNHU and Drexel also extended the benefits to the spouses and dependents of federal employees. The University of Maryland will extend the benefits to spouses of federal employees. All the schools offered online programs in addition to Georgetown's and the University of Maryland's on-campus classes.
Georgetown University’s Office of Communication said in a statement that, as part of the agreement, it would be offering 10 percent of scholarships to all federal employees enrolled in its School of Continuing Studies.
"We are proud to expand and enhance the ability for qualified federal employees to access a world-class Georgetown education," Kelly Otter, dean of the School of Continuing Studies, said in a statement.
"Federal employees bring a broad and rich perspective to the classroom which compliments [sic] the skills and knowledge of students working in other sectors. It is my hope that this agreement will expand educational opportunity for talented civil servants."
Georgetown SCS also said it was currently establishing a new center of excellence in program management following the enacting of the Program Management and Improvement Accountability Act, which established new best practices for federal projects.
The new program offers certificate, master’s degrees and executive master’s degrees based on program and portfolio management skills, the school said.
The federal government has been actively trying to recruit and retain skilled talent for years now as the bulk of its workforce edges closer to retirement.
The new agreements go into effect March 14.
