> Walmart has always promoted from within. I bet very few people have worked part time in Walmart for 1+ year while going to college for a business degree and not been shortlisted for a promotion.

A close friend of mine from high school started worked at Walmart while attending University. Interestingly enough, she was a business undergrad and, as you suggest, she was shortlisted to management before even finishing her undergraduate degree. She went on to get an MBA and went corporate within Walmart and is still there today, nearly 20 years later.

> The college subsidy will give them more managers with ground floor experience.

Given the above anecdote, I wonder if their decision to subsidize college is just tied to how grossly expensive an undergraduate degree is today vs. yesteryear.

In any event, they will continue to pull managers from the "competent" pool of employees internally and get good PR at the same time.