LOS ANGELES — With U.S. student debt at a record $1.7 trillion, employer tuition coverage programs may provide an affordable way for students to obtain a higher education.

Los Angeles resident Matt Hughes worked as a driver for Uber for several years before deciding to participate in the company’s tuition reimbursement program and earned a film degree from Arizona State University during the pandemic.

“I’ve been working in film for so long, like 20 years, and I didn’t have a degree in it,” he said. “They say you don’t need a film degree, but it’s turned out to be really helpful.”

He said it helped as he created his first-ever comedy series, called “Humor Me.”

More and more companies, including Amazon and Starbucks, are offering tuition coverage to workers in an effort to retain and attract talent, especially in a tight labor market.

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., the president and CEO of Society for Human Resource Management, said employer tuition reimbursement is a smart move.

“What this is doing is this is democratizing college education so that anyone, no matter your background, the ZIP code, etc., that you grew up in, you have an opportunity to work and work toward a college degree,” he said.