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Comment by sumthinprofound | Hacker News Reader

In 2020, the average wage of an hourly worker in a Walmart store was $14.76. Over a year, that $1 a day comes out to a month's car payment, or child care. I believe you can be driven to complete college courses and still not be able to afford it given the average pay at Walmart.

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The parent poster's point remains. Regardless of how much of an impact $1/day (or $30/month) can have, if your financial/living situation is such that amount makes a difference, you probably don't have the free time/mental energy to finish college courses in your spare time.

from the article > Walmart last year dropped the dollar-per-day fee employees paid to participate in the company’s subsidized university degree program, a move that boosted participation by 44%

Apparently it had a significant difference.

The OP comment that you are attempting to disagree with says "Participation might have increased but I wonder if completion rates decreased." and you are citing participation using the exact same quote he did as if it was new information.

Right, but the GP was talking about completion rates. People might have been enticed into attending those programs (it's free, after all), but actually following it through is whole different matter.

Agreed. I was considering attendance, but completion would be a much different (and meaningful) metric.

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