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Dolly Parton built an entertainment empire, but her biggest investment went straight to the people sweeping the walkways. In February 2022, the country legend partnered with Herschend Enterprises to launch the GROW U initiative across their theme parks and resorts, including Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The program pledged to cover 100% of tuition, fees, and books for all 11,000 employees. Most corporate education benefits require years of service, but this policy took effect on an employee’s very first day. It made no distinction between full-time staff, part-time workers, and seasonal crew members operating roller coasters or working in the kitchens. Through partnerships with around 30 educational institutions, workers gained debt-free access to more than 100 diploma and degree programs, alongside up to $5,250 annually for specialized fields. For Dolly, who grew up in Appalachian poverty watching her own father struggle because he never learned to read, the initiative was personal. She offered a way forward without binding contracts, knowing some might earn their degrees and eventually move on to careers elsewhere. That quiet generosity reflected the heart of an artist who never forgot where she came from. The logistical groundwork behind funding thousands of degrees remains one of the most remarkable chapters in her business history.

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DOLLY PARTON BUILT A WORLD-CLASS THEME PARK EMPIRE — BUT HER LARGEST COMMITMENT WENT STRAIGHT TO THE PEOPLE SWEEPING THE WALKWAYS.

In February 2022, Herschend Enterprises, operating partner of Dolly Parton’s Dollywood Parks & Resorts in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, announced the launch of the GROW U program. The initiative pledged to cover 100% of tuition, fees, and books for all 11,000 seasonal, part-time, and full-time employees across its 25 U.S. attractions.

Most corporate tuition programs come with restrictive fine print, requiring months of tenure or binding contracts to retain talent. Dolly and Herschend chose the opposite approach: eligibility began on an employee’s very first day on the job, regardless of their role or hourly schedule.

A college-age ride operator, an evening custodian, or a kitchen worker preparing traditional Southern meals at the park all received the same immediate opportunity. No one had to wait a full year to qualify, and no one had to prove seniority to open a textbook.

To make the ambition operational, Herschend partnered with Guild, a workforce education platform that manages direct-payment pipelines with accredited academic institutions. Through a network of roughly 30 partner universities and trade colleges, the program offered more than 100 fully funded diploma, certificate, and degree tracks.

The system paid tuition and fees directly to schools up front, eliminating out-of-pocket strain or lengthy reimbursement paperwork for low-income workers. For programs outside the primary network, the initiative provided up to $5,250 annually in educational assistance for high-demand technical and business fields.

For Dolly Parton, the commitment to education was rooted in the mountain country of Sevier County where she grew up as one of twelve children in a one-room cabin. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, was a hardworking man who never learned to read or write, a reality Dolly often described as the great limitation of his life.

Decades before GROW U, she founded the Imagination Library in 1995, mailing free books monthly to young children to ensure basic literacy before kindergarten. Extending that philosophy into higher education for her own workforce was a natural continuation of a lifelong mission.

What made the program exceptional was the absence of a retention clause. Workers who earned associate, bachelor’s, or technical degrees were not legally obligated to stay at Dollywood once their education was complete.

Dolly understood that helping an employee earn a degree in nursing, engineering, or education might mean watching them leave Pigeon Forge to pursue a career elsewhere. In an industry focused on staff retention, she treated the cost as a gift rather than an investment in company labor.

The theme park continues to welcome millions of visitors each year against the backdrop of the Great Smoky Mountains. Beneath the laughter on the midways and the music echoing from the outdoor stages, thousands of workers are building a debt-free future.

Dolly Parton did not measure the success of her park by turnstile numbers alone. She built a doorway out of the mountains for anyone willing to walk through it.

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