McDonald's Archways program tops $240 million, helps 90,000 workers advance

A McDonald’s shift can turn into a high school diploma, college tuition help, English classes or career advising, and the company says more than 90,000 crew members have already used Archways to Opportunity to get there.

McDonald’s launched Archways in 2015 and says it and participating franchisees have invested more than $240 million in the program. In its 10-year anniversary materials, the company says the benefit has helped crew members earn a diploma, receive college tuition assistance, learn English as a second language and access career advising. McDonald’s also said in 2021 that Archways had increased access to education for more than 65,000 managers and crew, a sign that the program has widened beyond a small pilot and into a more central part of the company’s labor pitch.

The fine print still matters. Archways is available to eligible employees at participating U.S. restaurants, and McDonald’s says the details can differ between company-owned and franchise-owned locations. That means a crew member in one store may not see the same tuition reimbursement rules, school options or timelines as a worker down the street. The company has tried to make the benefit easier to use by launching the Archways to Careers mobile app in 2019, which was designed to help employees identify the skills they are building and connect them with education and advancement paths.

The program has also become part of McDonald’s broader talent strategy. The company has described its goal as becoming an “iconic talent destination,” not just a restaurant chain, and it points to Archways and Hamburger University as proof that it wants workers to see a future inside the system. That matters in a labor market where fast-food jobs are often treated as temporary stopgaps, especially as minimum wage fights, union drives and automation pressure continue to reshape hourly work.

The money trail shows how the program has grown over time. McDonald’s said in 2017 that more than 38,500 people had been reached and more than $58 million in high school and college tuition assistance had been awarded. By 2019, the company said more than 50,000 restaurant employees had benefited and more than $90 million in tuition assistance had gone out. In 2023, McDonald’s said Archways and its franchisees had contributed more than $26 million in tuition assistance for restaurant employees. In 2026, the company said Archways had awarded more than $185 million in tuition assistance since 2015.

For crew members trying to move from a first job to a longer career, Archways is one of McDonald’s most practical offers: a benefit that can help pay for school, support language learning and make a restaurant job feel like a step, not a dead end.