Dolly Parton once paid full tuition for Dollywood employees who were pursuing higher education

Dolly Parton's Dollywood is an amusement park in Tennessee that has roller coasters and waterslides, as well as luxurious hotels and extravagant performances to keep tourists delighted and thrilled. The Park and Resort has now decided to offer an added benefit to the employees, reports The Washington Post. If the employees desire to get a degree, Parton's company will pay their tuition. Dollywood's parent company, Herschend Enterprises, made this announcement on Tuesday. The company will bear 100% costs of books, tuition and any additional fees of all the staff who wants to pursue higher education. 

The program is called GROW U pilot program and starting February 25, all employees of Herschend's 25 U.S. attractions will be able to register. All seasonal, part-time, and full-time staff are eligible to participate. Employees can enroll in diploma, degree, and certificate programs offered by 30 learning partners as early as their first day of work under the initiative. Business administration and leadership, finance, marketing, technology, and culinary studies are among the subjects included in the higher education program. The corporation has also agreed to finance 150 other programs in disciplines such as engineering, human resources, hospitality, and art design, up to $5,250 each year.

Wes Ramey, Dollywood Co. spokesperson, said, "When our hosts feel appreciated and are given opportunities like this, they feel cared for and they can pass that feeling on to their guests." Eugene Naughton, president of The Dollywood Co, spoke to WATE about the program. She said, "The creation of the program allows another avenue for us to care for our hosts. One of The Dollywood Foundation’s key tenets is to ‘learn more.’ This program is created with that very tenet in mind." She says that they want their employees to, "care more, dream more, and be more." 

The GROW U program applies to attractions such as Pink Adventure Tours in Tennessee, Arizona, and Nevada, Silver Dollar City in Missouri, and Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey, in addition to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Parton's fans reacted positively to the news, which comes at a time when several businesses are struggling to recruit and keep workers in what has become a tight labor market due to the pandemic. Tuition reimbursement has been reduced in recent years as businesses have attempted to decrease expenses. On the other hand, it still is the biggest perk to attract motivated employees and get them to stay longer.

According to Vanity Fair, free tuition isn't Parton's only charitable venture. The music legend also gives away over $1 million each year through her Dollywood Foundation, the majority of which goes to Tennessee-based organizations. Every month, she partners with local communities to deliver free, high-quality books to children through her Imagination Library. She also played a big role in the COVID-19 vaccine research by donating $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the development of the Moderna Vaccine.