Chicago State University joins the Discover College Commitment
Chicago State University President Zaldwaynaka Scott, Esq. during the announcement that Discover Financial Services is partnering with Chicago State University to expand its Discover College Commitment program. PHOTOS BY TIA CAROL JONES
By Tia Carol Jones
Chicago State University is the first Chicago-based and on campus institution in Chicago to participate in the program. Discover College Commitment covers tuition, fees, books and supplies needed to complete a Bachelor’s Degree. Discover employees will be able to enroll in Summer session at Chicago State University and get the benefits of the program.
Zaldwaynaka Scott, Esq., president of Chicago State University, believes the partnership will provide critical investment to the education of its employees and will be a gamechanger, not just to the employees but to the Chicago State University campus community.
“Investing in the work of higher education has a real and proven value. As we discussed, Chicago State is ranked in the top 4 percent of all Universities in the country in terms of economic mobility. That means our degrees have a proven value,” Scott said, when a student graduates from Chicago State University, it changes the trajectory of their family and the community where they live. “Investing in employees who live and work in Illinois will be an investment in the City of Chicago.”
Roger Hochschild, CEO and president of Discover Financial Services, said one of the reasons why Discover chose Chatham for the Customer Care Center is because of the community’s proximity to Chicago State University. Discover knew it could build a great relationship. The other was the community’s pool of talent.
“The second part of that partnership is our desire to recruit from the amazing students who are here. Not just for jobs in our call center, but as we add HR positions, technology positions, over the years build a corporate-college partnership that hopefully will be the model for many others,” he said.
Juatise Gathings is the lead of Discover Customer Care Center in Chatham. Gathings acknowledged how meaningful expanding the program will be for the 300 employees at the call center. Discover wants to be a bridge to help community residents realize their full potential and reimagine the life of the South side residents.
Discover and Chicago State University’s partnership also is exploring ways Discover can leverage and support training and resources for students at the University. Discover wants to be intentional about helping students by offering internship and mentorship programs.
“We know that the South side of Chicago is full of so much talent that has been untapped for a very long time. We’re benefitting from that a great deal. For our first 300 jobs in our Chatham center, we had over 10,000 applicants. We believe there’s more that has yet to be realized,” Gathings said.
Antwone Cameron, Dean of Students at Chicago State University, talked about how the University is invested in the growth and development of its students and how much of a benefit it is for students to go to school debt free.
“We want to do our part to address some of the barriers our students may face,” he said. “Chicago State being Illinois’ only four year predominantly Black institution and being here in the Chatham area, we are committed to ensuring our community does well. We are doing something very unique here and we’re happy to partner with Discover.”
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