# 3,000 rides given = free college?



## kcchiefsfan1982 (Aug 19, 2019)

Has anyone taken advantage of the free college at Arizona State University online?

I am just now at 1,500 rides given, so it will take me another year to get there...but I'd like to use this for my cousin if they allow it. I don't need it. I'm old.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

I'm doing it for myself. It's great.


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## kcchiefsfan1982 (Aug 19, 2019)

Trafficat said:


> I'm doing it for myself. It's great.


Very cool!!! How far into it are you?

It looks like I don't have many options as far as family members. I am single w/ no kids...I'd just have to see if my sister wanted to get a degree online I guess...

*I am a family member*
Are you a spouse/domestic partner, child, sibling, parent or legal guardian, or dependent of a driver? Learn more about using this opportunity today.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I'm 198 trips away, they sent me a reminder about it via email and in app messaging.

Not sure I will take advantage of it but I did see something about self employed courses so I may look into it.


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## Las Vegas Dude (Sep 3, 2018)

I don’t think you will be able to give the “free” college to someone else.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

kcchiefsfan1982 said:


> Very cool!!! How far into it are you?


I've been doing it for over a year now and taken about 10 courses.

You have to keep up your acceptance rate to do it though during the entire time of the benefit, so it may cost you a quite a bit in earnings to keep a high acceptance rate.


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## kcchiefsfan1982 (Aug 19, 2019)

Trafficat said:


> I've been doing it for over a year now and taken about 10 courses.
> 
> You have to keep up your acceptance rate to do it though during the entire time of the benefit, so it may cost you a quite a bit in earnings to keep a high acceptance rate.


yes, I am aware that I'll have to change my habits by then. Once I get close, I'll just accept every ride at that point...and won't cancel any.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Las Vegas Dude said:


> I don't think you will be able to give the "free" college to someone else.


You can give it to immediate family members at least.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Las Vegas Dude said:


> I don't think you will be able to give the "free" college to someone else.


*How it works*

Qualifying family members can receive full tuition coverage to ASU from an eligible driver in their family.
You are considered a family member if you are a spouse or domestic partner, child, sibling, parent or legal guardian, or dependent.
Use your tuition coverage to earn credits toward an undergraduate degree online or take non-credit certificate courses in entrepreneurship or English language learning.
The driver in your family may transfer their tuition coverage to you at any time.
If interested, reach out to the driver in your family to have them initiate your sign up.


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

I am fairly certain that "Cousin" is not immediate family so this won't work for that.

I suggest people taking this route take a Business management course plan. Also try and slip in some computer skills and programing if you can.


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## kcchiefsfan1982 (Aug 19, 2019)

Amos69 said:


> I am fairly certain that "Cousin" is not immediate family so this won't work for that.
> 
> I suggest people taking this route take a Business management course plan. Also try and slip in some computer skills and programing if you can.


I might just see if my sister wants to take some classes online. She is a stay-at-home mom so she would have the time.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Amos69 said:


> I am fairly certain that "Cousin" is not immediate family so this won't work for that.


Unless you marry your cousin! You can always get a divorce after graduation!


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

Trafficat said:


> I've been doing it for over a year now and taken about 10 courses.
> 
> You have to keep up your acceptance rate to do it though during the entire time of the benefit, so it may cost you a quite a bit in earnings to keep a high acceptance rate.


Cat, how much do you still have to pay in various fees, books, etc.?


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## dmoney155 (Jun 12, 2017)

kcchiefsfan1982 said:


> Has anyone taken advantage of the free college at Arizona State University online?
> 
> I am just now at 1,500 rides given, so it will take me another year to get there...but I'd like to use this for my cousin if they allow it. I don't need it. I'm old.
> 
> View attachment 510054


"Non transferable" lol


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> Cat, how much do you still have to pay in various fees, books, etc.?


I'm sure book cost will vary a lot based on the courses and professors you have, plus how you decide to get books. I had to pay some fee for admissions application originally (maybe around $100), but no other regular college fees. I believe there will be graduation fees later.

I've been impressed by the fact that most of the ASU professors I've had seem to be allowing the use of textbooks an edition or two older than the current edition. The newest edition of a book might cost $350 but the book two editions ago might be $10. I think the most expensive book I bought was $150 so far, but I'm probably averaging like $30-40 a class for books, but I always buy used books and the oldest edition whenever possible.

When I went to a local university in my state, the professors always insisted on the latest edition where the books were usually over $200 and not uncommonly twice as much. I'm guessing there was something in it for the professors somehow.


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

Does it cover up to a bachelors? That’s a great benefit.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

ColdRider said:


> Does it cover up to a bachelors? That's a great benefit.


It covers up to 135 credits. You should be able to get a bachelors degree with less than that as long as you don't make too many direction changes or courses outside of the major.


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## ColdRider (Oct 19, 2015)

Trafficat said:


> I've been impressed by the fact that most of the ASU professors I've had seem to be allowing the use of textbooks an edition or two older than the
> When I went to a local university in my state, the professors always insisted on the latest edition where the books were usually over $200 and not uncommonly twice as much. I'm guessing there was something in it for the professors somehow.


That's annoying. Most of my professors didn't care. The hw problems would require the later editions but most of content was the same. Our library had the books and we would just scan the pages we needed.


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

Trafficat said:


> I'm sure book cost will vary a lot based on the courses and professors you have, plus how you decide to get books. I had to pay some fee for admissions application originally (maybe around $100), but no other regular college fees. I believe there will be graduation fees later.
> 
> I've been impressed by the fact that most of the ASU professors I've had seem to be allowing the use of textbooks an edition or two older than the current edition. The newest edition of a book might cost $350 but the book two editions ago might be $10. I think the most expensive book I bought was $150 so far, but I'm probably averaging like $30-40 a class for books, but I always buy used books and the oldest edition whenever possible.
> 
> When I went to a local university in my state, the professors always insisted on the latest edition where the books were usually over $200 and not uncommonly twice as much. I'm guessing there was something in it for the professors somehow.


I've thought about going straight Uber Eats so i don't have to maintain an acceptance rate. For that sort of deal, it sounds worth it. I don't foresee myself taking passengers in the near future.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> I've thought about going straight Uber Eats so i don't have to maintain an acceptance rate. For that sort of deal, it sounds worth it. I don't foresee myself taking passengers in the near future.


In the fine print of the offer, it says it is only for drivers that drive passengers. Doing deliveries will count towards the points you need to maintain Gold Status necessary for keeping the tuition, but you still need to drive passengers. It doesn't say how many. Also, it seems that when I reject an UberEATS request it counts against my acceptance rate.


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## heyupal (Aug 12, 2020)

As my great grandfather used to say, "beware of rideshare companies bearing gifts".


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

Trafficat said:


> In the fine print of the offer, it says it is only for drivers that drive passengers. Doing deliveries will count towards the points you need to maintain Gold Status necessary for keeping the tuition, but you still need to drive passengers. It doesn't say how many. Also, it seems that when I reject an UberEATS request it counts against my acceptance rate.


Oh. Blah.


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## dnlbaboof (Nov 13, 2015)

this is a great deal, im too old for this, but if youre a youngan you could save up to 240k in tuition and room and board assuming its 60k a year.....in an age of covid where its illegal now to have fun in college, this could be a viable option since youre not missing out on anything thanks to lockdown..............too bad you have to be 21.....otherwise graduate high school drive for uber and get a free bachelors degree....


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## DJJoeyZ (May 1, 2020)

How do you get an online Arizona State University grad off your door step?

You pay for the pizza.


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## Uber Crack (Jul 19, 2017)

I am also taking classes through Uber at ASU and really enjoying it. So far Uber has paid over $7,000 for my tuition. Also I haven't driven since Feb due to covid but they're still paying. They extended gold status twice even with no rides. I thought that was pretty decent and unexpected. Of course, I was their bïtch for 3,000+ rides so I did my time. After Oct I'm not sure what I'm going to do, maybe do the bare minimum to keep gold. Hopefully mainly Uber Eats and one or two pax rides :smiles:


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

dnlbaboof said:


> this is a great deal, im too old for this, but if youre a youngan you could save up to 240k in tuition and room and board assuming its 60k a year.....in an age of covid where its illegal now to have fun in college, this could be a viable option since youre not missing out on anything thanks to lockdown..............too bad you have to be 21.....otherwise graduate high school drive for uber and get a free bachelors degree....


Tuition at ASU is around $700 per credit, so it's like $100K in value.

I went to physical college before. I never saw a point to partying in college. I was there to learn. That said, one thing I've learned is that you will be judged more harshly by coworkers and bosses for refusing to eat the meat and get hammered at company dinners than you will for your job performance... and it seems like networking is more important than GPA. So I guess I was/am probably actually dumb for working so hard in school rather than spending most of it in a state of intoxication like society expects.



heyupal said:


> As my great grandfather used to say, "beware of rideshare companies bearing gifts".


This is really a sweet deal from Uber. You'd think there was a catch, but I'm not finding one. The only real problem is if you end up getting deactivated before you can finish college, or if they end the program early. In Uber's terms, it says they can end the program at any time.


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## Johnny Mnemonic (Sep 24, 2019)

Believe it or not, some people were able to afford school by going to a community college first, then transferring to a four-year state university. They did this while living at home with parents and working a part-time job.


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## dnlbaboof (Nov 13, 2015)

ASU is no joke, can you take less than a full time load? its going to be just like regular college exams papers, so maintaining gold while getting good grades would require a full 40 hour week of work and studying. Also you want to get the degree asap 4 years or less if uber takes offer away. If you have a 2 year AA degree can you only do 2 years and get a BA?


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Uber Crack said:


> I am also taking classes through Uber at ASU and really enjoying it. So far Uber has paid over $7,000 for my tuition. Also I haven't driven since Feb due to covid but they're still paying. They extended gold status twice even with no rides. I thought that was pretty decent and unexpected. Of course, I was their bïtch for 3,000+ rides so I did my time. After Oct I'm not sure what I'm going to do, maybe do the bare minimum to keep gold. Hopefully mainly Uber Eats and one or two pax rides :smiles:


Keep in mind at the end of the year you will get a 1099 for that over $7,000 in tuition that was paid.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

> Believe it or not, some people were able to afford school by going to a community college first, then transferring to a four-year state university. They did this while living at home with parents and working a part-time job.


More options are always good. I went to college originally mainly paid by state scholarships and a part-time job. While you could use a job to pay for a degree, in my opinion it isn't worth the cost unless you can get scholarships.

There is an extreme oversaturation of college degree holders these days and there isn't much guarantee of return on investment. The idea that it will lead to a better job is a gamble at best, even if you study engineering as opposed to basket weaving. If I spent all of the hours of my life that I have spent studying working instead, I would have probably been much wealthier with money, but not knowledge.



FLKeys said:


> Keep in mind at the end of the year you will get a 1099 for that over $7,000 in tuition that was paid.


That was what I thought, but when I tried to pay taxes on the tuition paid it seemed like it was untaxable. Maybe I'm wrong and did it wrong, but they sent a 1098-T to me, not a 1099.



https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/paying-for-college-are-scholarships-taxable said:


> Scholarship money is generally tax free provided you are a candidate for a degree at an eligible institution and use the money to pay for qualified expenses.





dnlbaboof said:


> ASU is no joke, can you take less than a full time load? its going to be just like regular college exams papers, so maintaining gold while getting good grades would require a full 40 hour week of work and studying. Also you want to get the degree asap 4 years or less if uber takes offer away. If you have a 2 year AA degree can you only do 2 years and get a BA?


That's going to depend on what major you take and what classes you took before. If have an AS in biology and go for a BS in biology, that'll probably work out. If you have an AA in Anthropology and want a BS in Biology I would guess not possible in 2 years. [I don't know for sure if that is an online program they offer, I'm just using that as an example... not all majors are offered online.]

They accept transfer credits, but not in all cases. I got a lot of credits transferred in from both high school (AP/IB) and from past college work. Since I took engineering before and I'm taking a different branch of engineering now, I have a lot of credit transfer. All the math transferred as well as the lower level science classes, although they made me retake General Chemistry II. The core humanities mostly transferred but they required a history class at 300 level or higher which I didn't have so I took a HIST318, history of engineering, which is actually a really good class.

The exams are proctored remotely by camera. I'm enrolled full time right now doing the software engineering program and there's no way I could work 40 hours a week at the same time. Too much homework.

If they pull the rug out from under me because of deactivation or program discontinuation, I'll just have to be happy with the knowledge I gained through the process.


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## Las Vegas Dude (Sep 3, 2018)

FLKeys said:


> *How it works*
> 
> Qualifying family members can receive full tuition coverage to ASU from an eligible driver in their family.
> You are considered a family member if you are a spouse or domestic partner, child, sibling, parent or legal guardian, or dependent.
> ...


I stand corrected, didn't know you could give it away like that.


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## Areyousure (Feb 4, 2016)

Trafficat said:


> I've been doing it for over a year now and taken about 10 courses.
> 
> You have to keep up your acceptance rate to do it though during the entire time of the benefit, so it may cost you a quite a bit in earnings to keep a high acceptance rate.


Thats part of the independent contract. Take all passengers or else no college for you!

It appears that ASU online charges $500-$1,000 per unit. So we can assume one class is minimum $1,500. Is the offer limited to undergraduate coursework?

What I see here is a calculation on ASU's behalf that hardly anyone will complete a degree free through Uber. It costs very little to add students to online classes. What if you are two years in and Uber or ASU drops the program?


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Areyousure said:


> Thats part of the independent contract. Take all passengers or else no college for you!
> 
> It appears that ASU online charges $500-$1,000 per unit. So we can assume one class is minimum $1,500. Is the offer limited to undergraduate coursework?
> 
> What I see here is a calculation on ASU's behalf that hardly anyone will complete a degree free through Uber. It costs very little to add students to online classes. What if you are two years in and Uber or ASU drops the program?


It seems like it is around $700 per unit. Unfortunately it is limited to undergraduate coursework. I specifically inquired into that since I already have a higher level degree.

The main cost to ASU is the labor cost of the staff which has to grade homework, and provides direct communication with students via discussion boards.

Honestly, I feel the teachers are way more available and the students engage each other a lot more in the online format. Every time I have a question I can post a message on the class discussion boards and another student or the professor or teaching assistant for the course will respond and help me within a few minutes to a few hours.

When I took classes on a college campus it seems the professors usually took 24 hours to respond to an e-mail and usually just told you to see them during their office hours, which were once a week for a couple of hours with 20 students lined up at the door and you were lucky to get in for a few minutes. It was also really hard to get help from other students for on campus classes because they all hung out in clicks. The online format is way better IMO.


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## Areyousure (Feb 4, 2016)

Has ASU or affiliate informed you of any financial assistance opportunities? (Loans)

I suspect this is very low cost to Uber and that ASU has a plan to make it worth their while.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Areyousure said:


> Has ASU or affiliate informed you of any financial assistance opportunities? (Loans)
> 
> I suspect this is very low cost to Uber and that ASU has a plan to make it worth their while.


There wouldn't be much need for any loans. The tuition is free. You have to try and sign up for federal financial aid though. I did and was not eligible, and they still covered my tuition. The federal government did offer me a loan, lol.

I really believe your previous point was most likely the correct one. They expect most people won't utilize the program. If every driver did it, I doubt they could afford to offer it. I'm hoping it is a good tax write-off for Uber at least.


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## Areyousure (Feb 4, 2016)

No way Uber is paying anything significant for those credits. The deal is complex I’m sure, but ASU is certainly not billing Uber hundreds of dollars for every credit you take.


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## Diamondraider (Mar 13, 2017)

Trafficat said:


> I'm doing it for myself. It's great.


Does anyone know if they accept transfer credits?


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

Diamondraider said:


> Does anyone know if they accept transfer credits?


I transferred in 120 credits from my previous university and 32 credits from high school.

However, it is written on the transfer page that "A maximum of 64 transfer semester hours accepted as lower-division credit from two-year institutions."


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## mama2bebes (Aug 28, 2020)

Trafficat said:


> In the fine print of the offer, it says it is only for drivers that drive passengers. Doing deliveries will count towards the points you need to maintain Gold Status necessary for keeping the tuition, but you still need to drive passengers. It doesn't say how many. Also, it seems that when I reject an UberEATS request it counts against my acceptance rate.


I have this offer, but I only do EATS. Rideshare is not on my profile at all. The offer says it is for delivery partners who have completed 1000 trips. Right now I'm at 500, and I was considering sticking with UberEATS just to complete my bachelor's for free.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

mama2bebes said:


> I have this offer, but I only do EATS. Rideshare is not on my profile at all. The offer says it is for delivery partners who have completed 1000 trips. Right now I'm at 500, and I was considering sticking with UberEATS just to complete my bachelor's for free.


Well, that's cool if they expanded the offer to EATS! My statement was based upon the terms I read when I first signed up.


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## mama2bebes (Aug 28, 2020)

Is there anyone who only does EATS who has taken advantage of this offer? Please chime in! How much/often do you need to deliver in order to maintain your benefit?


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## Volvonaut (May 1, 2016)

Keeping up my acceptance rate was nothing in the normal world before COVID. But either way it sounds like a deal with the devil.


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## JohnDenham (Nov 21, 2020)

wow, this is really interesting, unfortunately I didn't know about it right away


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## IsaacRignall (Sep 19, 2021)

hmm, yes


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## 0x3imf3 (Feb 9, 2019)

Curious... What happens if you go to college and when you go to use your degree the employer asks you for a math proof or equation at the interview that you don't have memorized?

FYI most STEM stuff does this...


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