Last summer, Chipotle joined the ranks of Pizza Hut, JetBlue, Starbucks, and others in offering to foot the bill — or at least some of it — to provide employees with a college education. Today, the company expanded that program, offering workers the ability to combine real-world experience with classroom time in order to earn a business degree in less than two years. 

Chipotle announced today an accelerated business degree program for its employees through a partnership with Guild Education and Bellevue University.

Through the program, employees can earn a bachelor’s degree in as little as 18 months by combining credit from previous schools and those earned through Chipotle’s internal training.

“Employees will gain a solid understanding of business operations including people development, marketing, and decision-making,” Chipotle CEO Steve Ells said in a statement. “The new degree program extends a series of education benefits we’ve been putting in place over the last couple of years to help better equip our employees for success at Chipotle and beyond.”

The degree, Chipotle says, enables employees to apply what they learned in the classroom with their experience on the work floor.

The new program is in addition to Chipotle’s previously announced education assistance initiative that provides employees with up to $5,250 a year in tuition toward one of 30 degrees.

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