RJR to Help Employees’ College Students : Benefits: It will match tuition savings so that ‘no child of an RJR Nabisco employee will be denied post-secondary education due to lack of funds.’

RJR Nabisco Corp. announced a ground-breaking educational assistance program Monday that gives employees up to $4,000 for their children’s college expenses.

“No child of an RJR Nabisco employee will be denied post-secondary education due to lack of funds,” the food and tobacco giant said.

RJR Nabisco said the plan will help RJR Nabisco’s 35,000 U.S. workers cope with soaring education costs and will help ease corporate America’s problem of finding Americans with basic skills.

The centerpiece of the program is a tax-deferred savings plan under which the company matches annual contributions of up to $1,000 a year during a child’s four years in high school.

The funds can be used for everything from secretarial and computer training schools to an Ivy League education. The company said the money should be enough for the first year at a state university.

“We believe this is the first corporate effort to take such a comprehensive approach to learning and education,” said Eugene Croisant, RJR executive vice president of administration and human resources. “The immediate theme we’re reinforcing here is that we’re interested in education.”

The company is also providing subsidies for student loans, scholarships for post-secondary education and incentives for workers to seek skills training.

Education has been a growing concern for U.S. corporations seeking skilled workers. “We’re moving into an increasingly technological environment . . . where the skills are much greater than demanded today,” Croisant said.

James Appleberry, president of the American Assn. of State Colleges and Universities in Washington, applauded the RJR Nabisco effort.

For middle-income earners, the cost of putting children through school has become a near-luxury as state funds dwindle and tuition costs jump.

The RJR Nabisco savings plan will hardly dent the $20,000 annual cost of some private college tuitions, but it will help pay for state and community schools.