Peter Cappelli , director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, began his research into employer-paid tuition programs with some skepticism. Why, he asked himself, would employers pay for workers to develop a credential (education degree) that is useful to other employers and will raise the workers’ marketability? After all, many employees go to school precisely to change jobs. Furthermore, if the employer’s goal is to give workers skills for their current job, why not just offer training in-house? After several months of research, Cappelli has found some surprising answers. First, he says, virtually all employers offer this benefit, to some degree. Second, employees do not pay for this benefit in the form of lower wages. In fact, employers actually pay higher wages when they also have this benefit, suggesting that the workers must be more productive to compensate the company for the higher salaries. In addition, employers who offer this benefit are able to hire more qualified workers.…