Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Program offers free online education for MGM Resorts employees

MGM Resorts and the Nevada System of Higher Education have entered into a partnership to provide the gaming giant’s employees free online education.

Marking the first partnership between a Fortune 500 company and a system of higher education, the MGM College Opportunity Program will provide almost 72,000 MGM Resorts employees the ability to continue their education free of charge, officials said.

MGM employees can receive free online education through any of the seven degree-granting NSHE institutions, including UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada.

“As the American workforce continues to evolve, I believe in higher education as a pathway to the middle class. MGM Resorts is committed to expanding those pathways and investing in its employees and communities in which we operate,” said Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts.

“We are focused on reducing the financial burden on our employees while increasing access to professional growth opportunities,” Murren said.

Set to begin in the fall of 2019, MGM employees must enroll and be accepted into a certificate or degree program. Those include certificate, associates, bachelors and graduate degree online programs.

The program will also motivate NSHE schools to create more online-based degree programs, an area that needs improvement in the state, according to NSHE Chancellor Thom Reilly.

“This partnership will change the lives of these employees and their families, many of whom are first-generation students,” Reilly said.