Hundreds of Chick-fil-A workers are earning their college degrees without student debt

Over 70 of the Chick-fil-A employees participated in a recent graduation ceremony at Point University, a private Christian institution in Georgia.

In attendance were more than a dozen Chick-fil-A operators. 

"This all began in 2023 with one operator's and one university's vision: to give his team the opportunity to earn a college degree without student debt," Doug Danowski, president of Ficus Education in Georgia, told Fox News Digital.

"That single decision sparked a movement."

"What started as one operator's desire to invest in his team has grown into a national movement: hundreds of degrees earned, over an estimated $11 million in student debt avoided and real business impact," Danowski said.

Select Chick-fil-A franchise operators pay their employees' tuition as an incentive to recruit and retain workers.

"It's a partnership built around one question: How can we help operators recruit, develop and retain their people, and strengthen their restaurants?" Danowski said.

More than 500 independent Chick-fil-A operators have participated in the program since its inception, Danowski said.

The federal education debt now exceeds $1.6 trillion, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

As the Office of Federal Student Aid recently announced it has resumed collections of defaulted student loans, the 177 Chick-fil-A graduates collectively avoided more than $6 million in debt, according to QSR.

"This is worth continuing," Kennebrew said of the program. 

"This is worth growing."