1978
§127 enacted
Congress makes employer-paid education a tax-free benefit.
ABOUT EFFA
Higher education and industry need each other. The connection between them is broken.
For decades, the handoff between what schools teach and what employers need has been manual, slow, and fragmented. EFFA exists to close that gap — giving schools and employers a common language, process, and data to work as one system, so learning leads to opportunity.
Higher EducationIndustry
THE PROBLEM
The system was built backwards.
For decades, employer-funded education ran on reimbursement — employees front the cost and wait, so few ever use the benefit. Employers couldn't see what their spend returned. Schools couldn't scale employer partnerships without intermediaries taking 20–50% cuts. The result: billions spent inefficiently, and a widening gap between learning and earning.
The era that followed
Reimbursement
Employees pay tuition up front and wait to be paid back.
Today
Direct-billed
The employer is billed directly. The employee never fronts the money.
The benefit is nearly 50 years old. So is the way most schools still process it.
THE PLATFORM
EFFA is the platform where schools and employers do business.
EFFA replaces the manual, reimbursement-era process with one operating layer — where schools formalize employer partnerships, employers fund education directly with full control, and employees grow their skills without fronting the cost or taking on debt to do it.
WHO WE ARE
Built by builders.
EFFA's leadership brings over five decades of combined experience building at the intersection of higher education, employer partnerships, and workforce development — the people who built and scaled employer-funded education at the institutions that defined it.
EdAssistGuildUniversity of PhoenixDeVryWestern Governors UniversityApollo GlobalApollo Education GroupJob ReadyUniversity of FloridaCMS Global
What leaders say
"Charlie Nguyen is an innovative leader who has demonstrated that he can successfully improve operational efficiency while generating revenue for complex organizations. Having worked closely with Charlie at Apollo Education Group, I have seen firsthand how he successfully increased enrollments and corporate partnerships while empowering the employees at the campuses he managed. Charlie is a strategic leader who knows how to execute strategies designed to help universities grow enrollments, expand online learning and enhance the student experience."
Michele Martinez
Sr. Managing Director, Bright Horizons
"Charlie is a dynamic, thought-provoking leader who readily takes on challenges and delivers exceptional results. Charlie has a unique ability to identify potential challenges and deliver strategies to navigate success. His ability to harness resources and redirect and re-purpose them to achieve desired goals on time and under budget set him apart from most leaders. I would recommend Charlie in any environment from a start-up to a sustained enterprise. His vision and clarity in direction will create a success that is magnetic."
Mitch Katz
VP of Operations, University of Phoenix
"Regardless of the project or situation, Charlie brings a unique blend of his trademark entrepreneurial spirit, education industry know-how, roll up your sleeves grit and strategic mind. Combine those qualities with an uncanny sense of putting the learner first and you have a leader who can operate successfully across geographies and teams."
Charles Westrin
Chief Product Officer, BCG U
"A brilliant strategic thinker and judge of character, Charlie possess a unique blend of leadership talents that allow him to win and create teams dedicated to doing the same. His appetite for not only solving the problem at hand, but addressing the broader issue is unparalleled in my experience. Charlie's authenticity, drive and integrity continues to foster loyalty and a commitment to excellence among his team."
Nathan Jones
VP of Product, University of Phoenix
"Over the past 10 years Charlie has been a highly respected colleague that I would rely on for advice pertinent to my own success as a leader. In fact, he has a very positive way of challenging status quo thinking and inspires great levels of innovation and results. Charlie demonstrates a wide-range of ability to lead in business, academia, social enterprise, and organizational leadership."
Tammy Fernandez
Sr. Director Strategic Partnerships, InPlace Software
"Charlie is one of the most creative and innovative leaders I have had the pleasure of working with. He has an unmatched energy level and appetite for new challenges. Charlie immerses himself quickly in any problem or new situation and he is passionate about an ability to make things better than he found them. It is rare to meet someone so determined to make things better through a simple process of innovating and solving problems. Charlie is a capable and sophisticated professional with a courageous and powerful skill set and I have seen him deliver successful results in a variety of challenging situations."
Jason Pfaff
CEO, Cotulla Education
"Charlie is an exceptional operations leader with an acute instinct for problem solving and common sense. It is rare that you come across a standout business operator like Charlie. His ability to lead a team, drive execution, and focus on the priorities in a highly collaborative manner was a standout trait of his working style. He set lofty goals, and supports his team in achieving them. Charlie would be an asset to any team."
Steve Rae
SVP, Carnegie Learning