Guild Education

American education services company

GuildFormerly| Guild Education

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Company type| Private company
Founders| Rachel Romer and Brittany Stich
Headquarters| Denver, Colorado

Number of employees

| 900 (2024)[1][better source needed]
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.[2] Guild works for corporate employer clients to facilitate direct payment for courses to education provider clients[3][2] and offers marketing services to the education provider clients.

## History

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This section needs expansion with: more details post-founding (2015-2021). You can help by adding to it. (June 2024)

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Guild Education was founded in June 2015 by Rachel Romer and Brittany Stich.[4][5]

In June 2021, Guild Education announced a strategic partnership with 2U,[6] where the latter company made its degree programs, courses, and bootcamp programs available to the corporations that employ Guild.[7] Google also made Google Career Certificates available to corporations that employ Guild.[8] In the same month, CNBC reported that Guild Education sought to profit from its expectation of automation increasing displacement of workers.[9]

In June 2022, Forbes and Bloomberg reported Guild's valuation at $4.4 billion.[10][11]

In November 2022, Guild Education reduced its office space in Denver by 50 percent.[12]

In April 2023, Guild Education rebranded as Guild, and according to Fortune, added "a new career coaching product."[13]

In May 2023, Guild reduced its staff by 12%, resulting in over 150 individuals being laid off after several rounds of restructuring.[14]

In October 2023, Guild announced that it was offering training in artificial intelligence for front line workers through its education provider clients.[15]

In April 2024, Bijal Shah was named CEO.[16] In May, Guild laid off an additional quarter of its workforce, an estimated 300 workers.[1]

In October 2024, Guild announced its acquisition of Nomadic Learning. [17]

## Business strategy

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Guild Education works for 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 get a tax break.[19]

## Criticisms

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In 2018, The Century Foundation contributor Kelia Washington wrote "at best, these 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."[20]

## 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 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.
2. ^ a b "Managing Future Growth at an Innovative Workforce Education Startup". Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. March 23, 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ McPherson, Doug (October 9, 2020). "Growth at EY winner Guild Education leads to new program, acquisition". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
6. ^ McKenzie, Lindsay. "2U, Guild Tap Deeper Into Adult Education Market". Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
7. ^ Wan, Tony (February 24, 2021). "2U, Guild Education Partner to Expand Online Education for Adult Workers". EdSurge. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
8. ^ Greig, Jonathan (March 11, 2021). "Google relaunching career certificates, job board and scholarship program". TechRepublic. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
9. ^ de León, Riley (June 2, 2021). "CNBC Disruptor 50 Guild Education reaches $3.7 billion valuation amid labor shortage". CNBC. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
10. ^ McGregor, Jena. "Guild Education Reaches $4.4 Billion Valuation As Labor". Forbes. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
11. ^ "Guild Education Reaches $4.4 Billion Valuation". www.bloomberg.com. Bllomberg Technology. 2 June 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
12. ^ Tracy, Kate. "Edtech unicorn drops half its office space in tallest Denver building". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ Svaldi, Aldo (26 May 2023). "Denver-based education tech firm Guild eliminates 172 jobs". Denver Post. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
15. ^ 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.
16. ^ Alvarez, Alayna. "Spotlight: Meet Guild's new CEO, Bijal Shah". www.axios.com. Axios. Retrieved 24 April 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. ^ 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.