Cal Poly Pomona Students Excel Under Amazon Career Choice Partnership
Cal Poly Pomona is a “Best Bang for Your Buck” university, attracting students to its nationally ranked degree programs, learn-by-doing polytechnic model and affordability. A recent partnership with Amazon Career Choice makes that affordable, hands-on education even more accessible.
Amazon Career Choice offers prepaid tuition for part- and full-time for its frontline employees. Cal Poly Pomona joined the Career Choice network in 2022 and has seen a 93% persistence rate for participants, thanks to the university’s comprehensive support services and culture of care. The company has high standards for its partner institutions, ensuring that schools have services available to support students through their educational journey.
“We’ve made significant investments to help all our students meet their graduation goals. We’ve expanded our academic advising community so that every student has an assigned academic advisor to work with on planning their path to a degree, from Orientation to graduation,” said Associate Vice President of Student Success Cecilia Santiago-González.
“I’m very proud of our work to increase retention and persistence at CPP, and it’s exciting to see students take advantage of programs like this one.”
CPP is the only polytechnic university in the West to be a part of Amazon Career Choice.
The CPP and Amazon Difference: Flexibility, Finances and Field Experience
Jason Bragg joined Amazon as a fulfillment center associate in Ontario in fall 2020, and his job soon became a gateway to greater opportunity at Cal Poly Pomona.
“I was in our break room and saw table signs with new colleges listed for Amazon Career Choice, including CPP. I applied right away,” he said.
As a geological sciences student at CPP, Jason enjoyed hands-on field experiences such as flying a drone in the Mojave Desert to study ancient volcanoes. He described his experience as a working student as seamless, with flexibility and support from both Amazon and CPP faculty and staff. While his first few years at CPP were remote due to the pandemic, Amazon allowed him to arrange his work schedule around his classes, especially as the campus returned to in-person instruction.
The hard work and coordination paid off, and Jason, who made the Dean’s List multiple semesters, earned his degree in May. Cal Poly Pomona’s Commencement was the first real graduation ceremony he had participated in — having done a pandemic drive-thru version when he graduated from Quartz Hill High School in 2020 — and he proudly led his fellow graduates into the ceremony as the banner holder for the Department of Geological Sciences.
Learn more about Amazon Career Choice at CPP.
Read more stories about the class of 2024.