Division of Interdisciplinary Studies welcomes Amazon employees to CCNY

The City College of New York’s Division of Interdisciplinary Studies is opening its doors to Amazon employees seeking to complete their education and advance their career opportunities, all at the e-commerce titan’s expense. This follows the joint educational partnership between the City University of New York (CUNY) – of which City College is the founding institution – and Amazon. Under the agreement, Amazon, through its Career Choice Program, will provide tuition and enrollment fees for hourly employees to pursue associate and bachelor’s degrees at eight campuses including CCNY.

 “This collaboration with CUNY will provide greater access to education and opportunity, and complement our efforts to grow our economy and expand workforce development across the state,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

“We cannot be a prosperous city without the collaboration of private partners to help create efficient educational and career pipelines,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “This is what I call ‘Get Stuff Done’ and I’m grateful Amazon is working with the city to launch this joint educational partnership. Thanks to the collaboration between CUNY’s Career Success Initiatives and Amazon’s Career Choice, thousands of New Yorkers will gain access to an associate or bachelor’s degree and training to further their careers.”

At CCNY beginning this fall, Amazon employees will be able to pursue a BA in liberal arts (eight concentrations) and a BS in early childhood education, said Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies.

“This is an exceptional opportunity for Amazon employees to finish their degree at CCNY; what better place than the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies that specializes in working adults for this educational endeavor.”

Courses and programs in the Division are specifically designed for students whose access to higher education has been limited or interrupted due to financial limitations, work responsibilities or family obligations. It’s also the only one of CCNY’s eight divisions and schools that offers a full online degree. Incoming students can transfer up to 90 credits from previous education, and can receive up to 20 credits for learning outside of the college classroom through the Division’s Autobiography and Life Experience Program. In addition, students have several options of taking courses during the evenings and weekends: in-person, hybrid, hyflex or entirely remote.

CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said the partnership is a powerful example of how the private sector can join forces with the City University to advance workers’ education, promote economic mobility and help rebuild New York City’s post-pandemic economy at the same time. “We thank Amazon for its commitment to higher education for its employees and look forward to working with them while expanding CUNY’s role as one of the nation’s premier engines of economic opportunity.”

The other CUNY colleges in the partnership are:

• Bronx Community College;
• Borough of Manhattan Community College;
• College of Staten Island;
• The CUNY School of Professional Studies;
• Kingsborough Community College;
• LaGuardia Community College; and
• Queens College.

Amazon’s collaboration with CUNY is the first in New York State and is an expansion of its national commitment to provide educational and upskilling opportunities to more than 750,000 hourly employees at four national and more than 140 local universities and colleges. Career Choice is part of Amazon’s Upskilling 2025 pledge – a $1.2 billion commitment to upskill more than 300,000 Amazon employees by 2025. It’s also part of CUNY’s Career Success Initiative to help New Yorkers launch and advance their careers in partnership with employers.

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.