Over the past 90 days, Ficus has accelerated growth across its education platform—strengthening partnerships, expanding degree access and building a more complete workforce development pathway for Operators and their teams.
Beginning May 1, Operators offering education benefits through Ficus will gain access to three nationally recognized test preparation programs through Kaplan:
GED Test Preparation
ACT Test Preparation
SAT Test Preparation
Kaplan serves more than 1.2 million students annually worldwide. This expansion removes barriers and increases participation by supporting team members at more stages of their education journey. For Operators, this means more team members can qualify, enroll and move forward, increasing participation and strengthening the return on your education investment.
One of the most common obstacles to college enrollment is eligibility. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 8–9% of U.S. adults do not hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
By introducing structured GED preparation, Operators can now support team members who need a high school credential before pursuing a degree. This creates a stronger pipeline into the University of the Cumberlands degree pathway and increases long-term participation.
While University of the Cumberlands does not require standardized test scores for admission, some team members may pursue programs that do.
ACT and SAT preparation ensures Operators can support those team members as well, without adding administrative complexity.
Together, the expanded platform creates a clear progression:
GED → College Readiness → Degree Pathways → Career Advancement
Debt-free degrees through the University of the Cumberlands remain the foundation of the Ficus model. These new additions increase the value of the education benefit by helping more team members qualify, enroll and graduate.
Each participating Operator will receive an allocation of GED, ACT and SAT course licenses included in the education benefit subscription.
This expansion reflects Ficus’ continued investment in building a scalable workforce development platform, expanding partnerships, strengthening outcomes and delivering measurable, long-term impact for Operators and their teams.
We are proud to deliver on what we’ve shared and we are just getting started.