In a week or so, I’ll be visiting a beef packer in central Pennsylvania. I have a soft spot for the area, having attended and graduated from Penn State in the late 90s. I will be able to visit the school for only the second time in the 22 years that have somehow passed since then.

If it's like the first time I revisited, I'll find myself thinking, "How'd I get here?" Why'd I come 600 miles from home, and why — when certain disappointments arose — did I choose to stay? Long story short, it wouldn't have been possible without the importance I placed on earning a degree from a well-respected university. More importantly, it wouldn't have happened without the help of an athletic scholarship. My family couldn't have afforded out-of-state tuition back then, even if it was “only” $18,000. It's double that today.

At a time when a college education has become increasingly inaccessible — and the return on investment is weighted on the negative side of the scale by crushing debt loads — I am long overdue in applauding major meat firms like Hormel and JBS USA/Pilgrim’s for recently implementing programs that offer free higher education for their employees and families.

Such generosity represents a timely gesture as the industry slogs through an acute labor shortage. Companies have been trying all manner of methods to convince workers to stay on the line — from significant wage increases, of course, to car giveaways. But that’s the now; that’s the get by doing whatever it takes, which is requiring more work on Saturdays.

In the blur of such demanding work, I’d imagine it is difficult for the worker to see ahead, to look forward to an end goal other than a production target. But when your employer offers free tuition to college, it communicates an investment in just that — your future. That future may or may not include work with Hormel or JBS and the like, but it certainly helps generate more options in rural communities that historically send fewer people to college than cities and suburbs.

AS JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira has said, “We will be delighted if some choose to build or continue their careers with us when they graduate. Yet our larger aim is to unlock rural America’s potential through free college education for our team members and their children.”

As it turns out, 70% of the 1,250 JBS employees and their dependents who have enrolled in the Better Futures program are current team members. This surprised JBS, which logically figured the bulk of enrollees would be their dependents, or the next generation of college students.

I think that is telling. I think it clearly shows how people value new opportunities, and that the time to go after them is now — no matter one’s age or where one works.

Everyone deserves the ability to learn and to improve their lot in life. Meatpackers deserve credit for providing their employees more tangible pathways to do so.

School's in

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