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Guild Education
American education services company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Guild, formerly known as Guild Education, is a private company headquartered in Denver, Colorado that is employed by Fortune 1000 companies to manage their education assistance benefits.[1] Guild facilitates direct payment for courses to education provider clients and offers marketing services.[1][2]
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History
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Perspective
Guild Education was founded in June 2015 by Rachel Romer and Brittany Stich.[3][4]
In June 2021, Guild Education announced a strategic partnership with 2U,[5] where the latter company made its degree programs, courses, and bootcamp programs available to the corporations that employ Guild.[6] Google also made Google Career Certificates available to corporations that employ Guild.[7] In the same month, CNBC reported that Guild Education sought to profit from its expectation of automation increasing displacement of workers.[8]
In June 2022, Forbes and Bloomberg reported Guild's valuation at $4.4 billion.[9][10] That same year, Guild Education reduced its office space in Denver by 50 percent.[11]
In April 2023, Guild Education rebranded as Guild, and according to Fortune, added "a new career coaching product."[12] In May 2023, Guild reduced its staff by 12%, resulting in over 150 individuals being laid off after several rounds of restructuring.[13] In October 2023, Guild announced that it was offering training in artificial intelligence for front line workers through its education provider clients.[14]
In April 2024, Bijal Shah was named CEO.[15] In May 2024, Guild laid off an additional quarter of its workforce, an estimated 300 workers.[16] In October 2024, Guild announced its acquisition of Nomadic Learning.[17]
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Business strategy
Guild Education advises large corporations and contracts with adult education providers. It offers marketing services and receives payment from schools only when students enroll.[18] The employers also receive a tax break.[19]
One of Guild Education's clients is Spectrum, which partnered with the company to offer online courses.[20] Spectrum said that there was a particular focus on “technology-based programming” in areas like “software development, programming languages, cybersecurity, AI, [and] infrastructure.”[21][22] In January 2025, Macy's ended its partnership with Guild Education, after working with the company to provide college degree programs and other educational courses to its employees at no cost.[23]
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Criticisms
In 2018, The Century Foundation contributor Kelia Washington wrote "at best, [Guild] programs are limited in their ability to meaningfully increase college access and completion, and, at worst, they can create additional barriers for employees seeking to obtain high-quality, meaningful credentials."[24]
See also
References
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