Guild Education

American education services company

GuildFormerly| Guild Education

|

Company type| Private
Founders| Rachel Romer and Brittany Stich
Headquarters| Denver, Colorado
Website| www.guildeducation.com

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]

## History

[edit]

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]

## Business strategy

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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]

## Criticisms

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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

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* For-profit higher education in the United States
* Online education
* Student loans

## References

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1. ^ a b "Managing Future Growth at an Innovative Workforce Education Startup". Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. March 23, 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
2. ^ Berman, Jillian (September 25, 2019). "Why Walmart, Disney and so many other companies are paying for their employees' college education". MarketWatch. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
3. ^ Chuang, Tamara (3 December 2018). "Guild Education's twist on college is working for cashiers, sales clerks and others who abandoned the idea of a college degree". Colorado Sun. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
4. ^ McPherson, Doug (October 9, 2020). "Growth at EY winner Guild Education leads to new program, acquisition". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
5. ^ McKenzie, Lindsay. "2U, Guild Tap Deeper Into Adult Education Market". Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
6. ^ Wan, Tony (February 24, 2021). "2U, Guild Education Partner to Expand Online Education for Adult Workers". EdSurge. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
7. ^ Greig, Jonathan (March 11, 2021). "Google relaunching career certificates, job board and scholarship program". TechRepublic. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
8. ^ de León, Riley (June 2, 2021). "CNBC Disruptor 50 Guild Education reaches $3.7 billion valuation amid labor shortage". CNBC. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
9. ^ McGregor, Jena. "Guild Education Reaches $4.4 Billion Valuation As Labor". Forbes. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
10. ^ "Guild Education Reaches $4.4 Billion Valuation". www.bloomberg.com. Bllomberg Technology. 2 June 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
11. ^ Tracy, Kate. "Edtech unicorn drops half its office space in tallest Denver building". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
12. ^ Hinchliffe, Emma; Crowley, Kinsey (12 April 2023). "34-year-old Rachel Romer built Guild Education into one of the world's highest-valued female-founded startups. Now, she's expanding it beyond traditional 'education'". Fortune. Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
13. ^ Svaldi, Aldo (26 May 2023). "Denver-based education tech firm Guild eliminates 172 jobs". Denver Post. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
14. ^ McGlauflin, Paige; Abrams, Joseph. "An education startup used by Walmart, Hilton, and Disney wants to close the AI skills gap for frontline workers". fortune.com. Fortune. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
15. ^ Alvarez, Alayna. "Spotlight: Meet Guild's new CEO, Bijal Shah". www.axios.com. Axios. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
16. ^ Svaldo, Aldo (22 May 2024). "Education tech firm Guild lays off a quarter of its workforce". www.denverpost.com. Denver Post. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
17. ^ "Guild Announces Acquisition of Nomadic, a Leading Capability Academy; Introduces Guild Talent Advantage". www.businesswire.com. businesswire. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
18. ^ Yaffe-Belany, David. "How to Get Rich Sending Low-Income Workers to College". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
19. ^ Wilson, Alexandra. "Class Act: This 31-Year-Old's Company Rocketed To A $1 Billion Valuation Helping Workers Get Degrees". Forbes. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
20. ^ Vinopal, ByCourtney. "Why one company pivoted from tuition reimbursement and embraced online learning". HR Brew. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
21. ^ Vinopal, ByCourtney. "Why one company pivoted from tuition reimbursement and embraced online learning". HR Brew. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
22. ^ joshbersin (2024-10-22). "Guild Jumps Headfirst Into The Corporate Learning Market". JOSH BERSIN. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
23. ^ Parton, Mitchell (2025-01-29). "Macy's ends program that offered tuition-free college degrees to employees". Modern Retail. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
24. ^ Washington, Kelia (October 15, 2018). "Starbucks, Walmart, and Amazon Offer "Free" College—but Read the Fine Print". tcf.org. The Century Foundation. Retrieved 23 February 2022.