Best Online Universities for InStride Partner Companies (Adidas, Labcorp, Aramark, Intermountain Health, and More)

If your employer offers tuition assistance through InStride, you have access to a curated network of accredited universities, with tuition flowing directly from your employer to the school in most cases. The decision that determines whether your benefit pays off is which school you pick from inside the network. The InStride school catalog is smaller and more selective than competing administrators (notably Guild), with a stronger concentration of public R1 universities and Arizona State University as the dominant anchor. The school choice mathematics work very differently inside InStride than they do at Guild-served employers, and understanding the difference is the most important decision an InStride-eligible employee makes.

This guide breaks down the strongest school choices inside the InStride network for different goals: lowest total cost, fastest completion, best transfer credit, and best fit by field. The right school depends on your employer’s specific InStride configuration, your prior college coursework, your field of interest, and what you are trying to accomplish in the next two to four years. The recommendations below are organized by goal and by employer type so you can find the school selection logic that fits your situation.

For the broader framework on planning an online degree as a working adult, see: The Complete Guide to Earning an Accredited Online Degree as an Adult Learner.

What InStride Is and Which Employers Use It

InStride is a workforce education benefits administrator headquartered in Los Angeles, founded in 2019 with strategic backing from Arizona State University. The company emerged from ASU’s earlier work on the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, which has covered ASU Online tuition for Starbucks partners since 2014 and remains the longest-running large-scale employer-ASU partnership in the country. InStride was built to scale that operational model to other employers, and the InStride school network reflects that lineage: ASU is the dominant anchor school, with a curated set of additional R1 public universities, regional schools, and international partners filling out the catalog.

Major employers that currently use InStride as their tuition benefit administrator include Adidas, Aramark, Labcorp, Intermountain Health, SSM Health, Ascension, Medtronic, Banfield Pet Hospital, Carvana, Magna, Discount Tire, Infosys, Prime Communications (the largest AT&T authorized retailer), Action Behavior Centers, and Desert Financial. Several healthcare systems beyond Intermountain rely on InStride for employee tuition delivery, making the platform unusually concentrated among hospital and clinical employers. Disney’s Aspire program is sometimes confused with InStride because of the ASU connection, but Disney uses Guild as its administrator rather than InStride.

Each employer configures its InStride benefit differently. Adidas’s adidasED x ASU Scholarship covers tuition at ASU Online with a 25 percent ASU scholarship discount on top of the employer payment. Aramark’s Frontline Education Program covers full tuition at ASU for full-time hourly workers, plus traditional $5,250 reimbursement for salaried employees. Intermountain Health’s PEAK program covers up to $5,250 in upfront direct-pay tuition and includes a unique dependent benefit. Labcorp, SSM Health, and others offer their own employer-specific configurations within the InStride platform.

For the operational details of major employer programs administered through InStride, see the dedicated articles below.

• Adidas: Adidas Tuition Assistance: How the adidasED x ASU Scholarship Works for Online Degrees
• Aramark: Aramark Tuition Reimbursement: Online Degrees for Aramark Employees
• Intermountain Health: Intermountain Health Tuition Assistance: Online Degrees for Intermountain Health Caregivers

How InStride Differs From Guild and Other Administrators

Employees comparing employer tuition programs across companies often want to understand how InStride compares to Guild, the other dominant U.S. workforce education administrator. The structural differences matter because they affect school choice, cost, and how the benefit fits a particular career goal.

School Network Size and Selectivity

Guild’s network includes more than 60 accredited universities ranging from large online-focused private schools (SNHU, Purdue Global, Bellevue) to public flagships and community colleges. InStride’s network is smaller and skews toward public R1 research universities. The most heavily enrolled InStride partner schools are Arizona State University, City University of New York (CUNY), University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Memphis, University of Washington Continuum College, Harvard Business School Online, Central State University (an HBCU), Utah Valley University, and College of Southern Idaho. Several international partners including Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), Universidad Tecmilenio, and Dublin City University (Ireland) extend the catalog for global employers.

The selectivity tradeoff is real. Guild offers wider school choice; InStride offers narrower but generally more academically prestigious choice. For an employee whose primary goal is the most credentialed possible degree, InStride’s R1 concentration is a genuine advantage. For an employee whose primary goal is the lowest-cost or fastest-completion path, Guild’s broader catalog of online-focused private schools (SNHU at $330 per credit, WGU’s competency-based model) often wins on the math.

ASU as the Anchor School

Arizona State University Online is the dominant school inside InStride. The reason is structural: ASU helped found InStride, and most InStride employer programs include ASU Online as a primary partner regardless of which other schools are in the catalog. For an employee at an InStride-administered employer, the practical reality is that ASU is almost certainly an option, and for many of the smaller employers in the network, it may be the most prominent or most-used option.

ASU Online offers more than 300 fully online degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and certificate level, with strong programmatic accreditation across the major working adult disciplines: AACSB for the W. P. Carey School of Business (held by less than 5 percent of business schools globally), ABET for engineering and computer science, CCNE for nursing, and CAHME for healthcare administration master’s programs. The combination of broad catalog and strong programmatic accreditation makes ASU a credible default choice for most InStride-eligible employees.

For ASU Online’s full institutional review including admissions standards, transfer credit policies, and program details, see: ASU Online College Review.

Healthcare Sector Concentration

InStride’s employer roster skews toward healthcare in a way Guild’s does not. Intermountain Health, Ascension, SSM Health, Medtronic, Labcorp, Banfield Pet Hospital, and several smaller hospital systems use InStride. This concentration means InStride school selection often optimizes for healthcare-aligned programs (nursing, healthcare administration, public health, healthcare informatics) more than other administrator networks do.

For nursing specifically, the InStride network is competitive but narrower than Guild’s. ASU Online holds CCNE accreditation for its RN-to-BSN and MSN programs. Some InStride healthcare employers add specific regional schools (Utah Tech University and Pikes Peak State College for Intermountain caregivers, for example) that fit narrower geographic footprints. Nurses pursuing more specialized clinical credentials (CRNA, NP specialties beyond Family or Adult-Gerontology) may find the InStride network insufficient and need to combine InStride benefits with non-network schools.

Best InStride Network Schools By Goal

The right InStride partner school for any individual depends on what they are trying to accomplish. Here is the school selection logic mapped against the most common goals working adults bring to the decision.

Best for Lowest Total Cost

If your employer’s InStride benefit caps at $5,250 per year (the Section 127 tax-free limit, which most InStride employers respect), school selection becomes mathematical. The school’s per-credit rate multiplied by your annual credit load needs to fit inside the cap to keep your out-of-pocket cost at zero.

Inside the InStride network, the cheapest paths typically run through public state universities offering in-state tuition rates regardless of where the student lives, or through community college partners. Utah Valley University and College of Southern Idaho serve regional Intermountain caregivers at modest per-credit rates. The University of Memphis and CUNY both offer reasonably priced public university online programs. ASU Online runs higher per-credit ($530 to $750 for many programs) than some Guild network alternatives, though employer-specific scholarships (such as the Adidas 25 percent ASU discount) bring the effective rate down meaningfully.

For employees with caps above $5,250 (Aramark Frontline and similar full-tuition programs), cost is essentially irrelevant inside the partner network. School selection becomes a question of program fit and reputation rather than per-credit math.

Best for Fastest Completion

If your goal is to complete a bachelor’s degree as quickly as possible while working, two factors compress your timeline more than anything else: prior learning credit acceptance and self-paced or accelerated course structures.

ASU Online accepts a substantial amount of transfer credit (typically up to 90 of 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree, depending on the program), which can compress a degree timeline significantly for employees who started college earlier in life and never finished. ASU also runs a 7-week course format for many online programs, which means working adults can complete two courses per session and meaningful progress every few months rather than every semester.

Pikes Peak State College’s RN-to-BSN program runs in 8-week course format with three start dates per year, which fits InStride healthcare-employer caregivers (notably Intermountain) pursuing nursing-completion timelines. Utah Tech’s RN-to-BSN structure similarly accommodates accelerated pacing.

For the complete framework on RN-to-BSN online programs, see: RN to BSN Online: What to Expect.

Best for Maximum Transfer Credit Acceptance

Working adults who arrive with prior college coursework that did not lead to a degree benefit most from generous transfer credit policies. ASU Online’s 90-credit cap on transfer credit means a student with 60 prior credits could finish a bachelor’s in roughly 60 additional credits, or 2 to 3 years of part-time work. For students with prior associate degrees from regionally accredited institutions, ASU can typically accept the full associate degree as the bachelor’s foundation, which means as little as 10 to 14 courses to complete the four-year degree.

CUNY and University of Memphis both offer competitive transfer credit policies for in-state students. Before enrolling at any InStride partner school with significant prior credits, request an unofficial transfer credit evaluation from each school you are considering. The variation between schools can change your degree timeline by 12 to 24 months. The evaluation costs nothing and typically takes one to two weeks.

Best for Working Adult Support Infrastructure

ASU Online has built dedicated infrastructure for working adult learners, including dedicated success coaches for online students, proactive academic intervention systems, evening and weekend faculty office hours, and career services tailored to mid-career professionals. The infrastructure is meaningful for completion rates: ASU’s online programs consistently outperform many other large online providers on retention metrics. For an InStride-eligible employee specifically, the operational reality is that you will likely encounter strong support infrastructure regardless of which InStride partner you select, because most schools in the network were curated specifically for adult learner fit.

Best InStride Network Schools By Field

Programmatic accreditation and field-specific reputation matter as much as institutional accreditation when choosing a school for a particular career. Here is the field-by-field breakdown for the most common adult learner study areas in the InStride network.

Nursing

For RN-to-BSN, BSN-to-MSN, and other nursing programs, the critical accreditation is CCNE or ACEN. CCNE-accredited InStride network options include ASU Online (RN-to-BSN and multiple MSN tracks), Utah Tech University (RN-to-BSN, an Intermountain-aligned partner), and Pikes Peak State College (RN-to-BSN, Colorado-based). For Intermountain caregivers specifically, Utah Tech’s $260 per credit rate fits entirely within the $5,250 PEAK annual cap, which makes it one of the most affordable RN-to-BSN paths in any large-employer education network.

Business and MBA

ASU Online’s W. P. Carey School holds AACSB accreditation, the most selective business school accreditation globally. The online MBA at the graduate level and bachelor’s in business at the undergraduate level are both AACSB-accredited. For InStride-eligible employees pursuing business credentials, ASU is the clear leading choice, particularly when the employer’s specific configuration includes additional discounts (the Adidas 25 percent scholarship is a notable example). Harvard Business School Online provides shorter-form business credentials (CORe, Strategy, Marketing certificates) that several InStride employer configurations include for management track employees.

Computer Science, IT, and Cybersecurity

ASU Online’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering hold ABET accreditation across multiple computer science and engineering programs. Online bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science, Software Engineering, and Information Technology are well-suited for employees pursuing tech roles. The cybersecurity master’s program is among ASU Online’s most-applied-to graduate programs. For InStride-eligible employees in technology-adjacent roles (Carvana, Infosys, Prime Communications, Discount Tire IT staff), ASU Online’s CS catalog is the strongest fit in the network.

Healthcare Administration and Public Health

ASU Online offers a CAHME-accredited Master of Healthcare Administration (the gold-standard accreditation for healthcare administration master’s programs). For InStride-eligible employees at hospital systems (Intermountain, Ascension, SSM Health) pursuing administrative or operational career paths within their employer, the MHA at ASU is the natural choice. Bachelor’s-level health management programs at ASU and at several other InStride partners support entry to the field.

Education and Teaching Licensure

Teaching licensure is state-specific. ASU Online’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is CAEP-accredited and offers state-specific licensure pathways for Arizona and beyond, with several online education programs that can lead to licensure for elementary, secondary, and special education paths. For InStride-eligible employees pursuing teaching as a career change (a meaningful path for healthcare and corporate employees in the network), ASU’s education catalog is well-developed.

Communication, Marketing, and Liberal Arts

Bachelor’s degrees in Mass Communication, Digital Audiences, Marketing, English, Psychology, History, Sociology, and Political Science are available fully online at ASU and at several other InStride partners. For employees finishing a previously-paused liberal arts degree, the catalog supports the field broadly. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Bachelor of Science in Personal Finance is a unique option for employees in financial services or consumer finance roles.

InStride Partner School Tuition Snapshot

The table below compares per-credit tuition rates across the most heavily enrolled InStride partner schools, with the caveat that employer-specific discounts (such as the Adidas 25 percent ASU scholarship) can change the math.

Two patterns surface from the table. First, ASU Online sits at the higher end of the per-credit cost range in the network, which means the $5,250 Section 127 cap covers fewer credits per year at ASU than at several alternatives. Employer-specific discounts that bring effective ASU rates down (the Adidas scholarship being the clearest example) make the math work; without those discounts, ASU programs may require either slower pacing or stacking with FAFSA aid to fit inside an annual benefit cap.

Second, public university online programs in the InStride network often run dramatically lower for in-state students than the standard tuition suggests. CUNY at approximately $305 per credit for New York residents and Utah Valley University at approximately $284 per credit for Utah residents both produce excellent value for employees living in those states. Out-of-state students at the same schools typically face significantly higher rates.

Stacking InStride Benefits With Federal Financial Aid

Like all employer tuition benefits, InStride-administered programs are most valuable when combined with FAFSA-driven federal financial aid. The two systems stack rather than substitute, and skipping the FAFSA forfeits aid the employer benefit cannot replace.

Filing the FAFSA opens access to Pell Grants (up to $7,395 per year for income-eligible students, money that does not need to be repaid), subsidized federal loans, and state-level aid programs. For working adults, independent student status (most adults age 24 or older, or anyone with dependents) means the FAFSA evaluates your income alone, not your parents’. This frequently produces partial or full Pell eligibility for incomes well into the middle class.

At most schools, federal grants apply to tuition first, and the employer benefit covers what remains. This sequencing preserves grant funding rather than displacing it. For an InStride-eligible employee at an ASU program ($560 per credit, 24 credits per year, $13,440 annual tuition), with a $5,250 employer benefit and $4,000 partial Pell Grant, total funding is $9,250 against $13,440 tuition: a $4,190 annual gap. For employees with full Pell eligibility ($7,395), the gap shrinks to $795. Employees at lower-cost InStride partner schools (Utah Tech, Utah Valley, CUNY in-state, Memphis in-state) can typically zero out their tuition cost entirely with the FAFSA + employer combination.

Source on the Section 127 framework: IRS: Frequently asked questions about educational assistance programs.

For the complete guide to filing the FAFSA as an online student, see: FAFSA for Online Students: What to Know Before You Apply.

How to Enroll Through InStride

The enrollment process for any InStride-administered employer benefit follows a consistent workflow. The full process from interest to first day of class typically takes 6 to 10 weeks.

Step 1: Visit Your Employer’s InStride Portal

InStride hosts employer-specific portals at addresses like adidas.instride.com, intermountain.instride.com, aramark.instride.com, and similar URLs for each partner. The portal lists current eligibility requirements, available programs at the partner schools, application timelines, and FAQs specific to your employer’s configuration of the benefit. Eligibility rules vary by employer (full-time vs. part-time hours, tenure requirements, role-based access) and should be confirmed in the portal before assuming you qualify.

Step 2: Apply to the Partner School

Once your InStride application is approved, submit a separate application to your chosen partner school for the specific degree program of interest. ASU Online and most other major partners use rolling admissions with multiple start dates per year (ASU runs a 7-week course format with frequent start dates). Application materials typically include high school transcript or equivalent, prior college transcripts for transfer credit evaluation, and standard application materials.

Source on the InStride platform: InStride Corporate Site.

Step 3: Submit Transfer Credit

Send transcripts from any prior institutions directly to the partner school for transfer credit evaluation. Most InStride partner schools accept a substantial amount of transfer credit, which can compress a degree timeline significantly for employees who started college earlier in life and never finished.

Step 4: File the FAFSA

Before the first term of enrollment, file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid at studentaid.gov. The FAFSA unlocks Pell Grants, subsidized federal loans, and other aid that stacks on top of the InStride benefit. The process is free, takes 30 to 60 minutes, and uses tax data you already have on file.

Step 5: Confirm Tuition Coverage Before Each Term

Before each term begins, verify in the InStride portal that the upcoming courses are approved for coverage and that the annual cap has sufficient remaining capacity. Your employer pays the partner school directly before the term starts. Any non-covered costs (books, lab fees, exam fees) are your responsibility but can typically be paid through Pell Grant funds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I switch schools mid-degree if I am using InStride?

Yes, but the transfer credit acceptance question becomes critical. If you complete 30 credits at ASU and want to switch to CUNY or another InStride partner, the new school will evaluate your ASU credits against their specific program requirements, and credit acceptance will not necessarily be 1-to-1. Most students who switch mid-degree lose 6 to 12 credits in the transfer. Plan the school choice carefully upfront to avoid this.

What happens if I leave my InStride employer mid-degree?

Coverage typically continues through the term in which you were enrolled when you left, but stops for any future terms. Specifics vary by employer: some InStride configurations require active employment for reimbursement; others (particularly direct-pay structures like Adidas’s adidasED and Intermountain’s PEAK) have no service commitment beyond active enrollment at the time the term begins. Confirm your specific employer’s terms before assuming a particular policy applies.

Can I use InStride benefits at a school not in the network?

Generally no. Each employer’s InStride benefit is restricted to that employer’s approved partner schools within the InStride catalog. Some employers offer dual structures where InStride covers partner schools and traditional reimbursement covers any accredited school (Aramark and Intermountain both have this dual structure). Most InStride employers do not offer that flexibility, which means choosing a non-network school requires self-funding tuition.

Are graduate degrees covered?

Most InStride employer programs include graduate degrees alongside undergraduate options. ASU Online’s master’s catalog (MBA, MHA, MSN, MEd, multiple MS programs) is the most-used graduate path through InStride. Coverage caps and tax treatment work the same way at the graduate level: $5,250 per calendar year is tax-free under Section 127, and graduate per-credit rates run higher than undergraduate, which means the cap covers fewer credits per year.

How does InStride compare to Guild?

InStride and Guild are the two dominant U.S. workforce education administrators. Guild’s network is larger (60+ schools) and skews toward online-focused private universities (SNHU, Purdue Global, Bellevue) plus public partners. InStride’s network is smaller and skews toward public R1 universities (ASU as the anchor, plus CUNY, UW-Madison, Virginia, Memphis). For employees prioritizing prestige and academic rigor, InStride’s R1 concentration is an advantage. For employees prioritizing the lowest per-credit cost or fastest completion, Guild’s broader catalog often wins on the math. Each administrator serves different employer rosters: an employee whose company uses one administrator does not have access to the other’s network.

Does ASU Online cost the same for all InStride employees?

Per-credit tuition rates at ASU are the same baseline across InStride employers, but employer-specific scholarships and discounts can change the effective rate. Adidas employees receive a 25 percent ASU scholarship discount on top of the employer payment, which is unique in the InStride landscape. Aramark’s Frontline Education Program covers full ASU tuition for full-time hourly workers at no cost. Other InStride employers fund the standard $5,250 cap without additional discounts. Confirm your specific employer’s configuration in your InStride portal before assuming a particular cost structure.

Who the InStride Network Works Best For

The InStride network produces meaningfully different value depending on the employee’s situation. Three profiles benefit most:

Employees Prioritizing Public R1 University Credentials

ASU, CUNY, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Virginia, and University of Memphis all carry strong academic reputations as public R1 research universities. For employees who specifically value the prestige of a major public university on their resume, the InStride network is a stronger fit than Guild’s online-focused private cluster. The brand value matters for some career paths (graduate school admissions, professional networking, certain industry employers) and less for others (operational and skills-based roles where the credential is weighted more heavily than the school name).

Healthcare Workers Pursuing Field-Aligned Credentials

InStride’s healthcare employer concentration produces strong field alignment for nursing, healthcare administration, and public health degrees. Intermountain caregivers, Ascension and SSM Health employees, Medtronic staff, and Labcorp workers find InStride’s catalog naturally aligned with their professional development needs. ASU Online’s CCNE-accredited nursing programs and CAHME-accredited MHA program are particular standouts. Regional InStride partners (Utah Tech, Pikes Peak State College, Utah Valley) extend the network for state-specific clinical pathways.

Adidas, Aramark, and Other ASU-Centric Employees

For employees at companies whose InStride configuration runs primarily through ASU (Adidas, Aramark, Starbucks, and others), the school selection question is largely answered by the employer’s choice. ASU’s broad catalog and strong programmatic accreditation across major fields means most working adult goals can be served at the same school. The adidasED 25 percent discount and the Aramark Frontline full-tuition structure both make ASU dramatically more affordable for those specific employees than the standard $5,250 cap math would suggest.

The InStride network works less well for employees who want school choice outside the curated catalog or who prioritize the lowest possible per-credit rate. For those employees, traditional reimbursement at a non-network school (when their employer offers that option) or a different employer entirely with a Guild-administered program may produce better economics.

Choosing Your InStride Network School

The InStride network gives working adults at participating employers access to a curated catalog of accredited universities, with ASU Online as the most heavily enrolled anchor and a meaningful set of additional R1 publics, regional schools, and specialized partners filling out the catalog. The right school choice depends on your specific employer’s configuration of the benefit, your prior college coursework, your field of interest, and what you are trying to accomplish. The four-step process for picking well: confirm which schools your employer has approved in your InStride portal; narrow to two or three based on cost, transfer credit, and field-specific accreditation; request unofficial transfer credit evaluations from each; and file the FAFSA before enrolling to maximize the combined funding stack.

For the broader framework on planning an online degree as a working adult, see: The Complete Guide to Earning an Accredited Online Degree as an Adult Learner.

For a curated list of strong online colleges to consider alongside the InStride network options, see: 25 Best Online Colleges.