Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Instructional Costs of Apprenticeship
- Four State Approaches to Supporting Instructional Costs
- Student Financial Aid: Kentucky’s Educational Excellence Scholarship
- Startup Grants: New Jersey’s PACE and GAINS initiatives
- Reimbursement Systems: Texas and California
- Tuition Waivers: North Carolina, and Unintended Consequences in Washington and Florida
- Recommendations
- Appendix: Methodology and Interviewees
Four State Approaches to Supporting Instructional Costs
Staff from government agencies and colleges in 12 states with existing supports for college-connected RTI were interviewed for this brief.1 These conversations revealed a variety of state policy approaches aimed at supporting apprenticeship expansion.
Tax credits are a commonly discussed topic in apprenticeship policy. But though they have supported noteworthy apprenticeship expansion in some of the 14 states where they are used,2 tax credits serve as a general subsidy to apprentice employers and do not specifically address the costs of credit-bearing instruction for apprentices or colleges. However, my research uncovered four other incentive strategies that do directly address these costs and can support the development of an expanded infrastructure to support apprentices, colleges, and employers making use of college-connected apprenticeships.
These four approaches—student financial aid, startup grants, reimbursement systems, and tuition waivers—all affect different stages of the apprenticeship program lifecycle and have different implications for apprenticeship stakeholders. As this analysis will show, some approaches are better suited to connecting apprenticeship to college than others.
- Student financial aid approaches are student-focused, aiming to make college instruction more affordable for apprentices, and may be paid to the learner or to the college to cover tuition costs. Although financial aid has received relatively little attention among apprenticeship researchers and advocates, apprentices can and do draw on a variety of federal and state student aid options. This brief focuses on student grants and scholarships authorized by states.
- Startup grants are program-focused, aiming to increase the capacity of employers, colleges, and apprenticeship intermediaries3 to develop and deliver apprenticeship programs. Though startup grants may have different allowable uses, they typically support development of apprenticeship curricula; instructor training and hiring; and marketing, recruitment, and screening of prospective new apprentices. In some cases, startup grants may subsidize apprentice wages.
- Reimbursement systems are largely program-focused, and provide additional funding to colleges, school districts, and other apprenticeship training providers through a regular application process. Standardized timetables and budget processes are used to allocate funds to training providers, and reimbursed funds typically support instructor salaries, facilities, and equipment or supplies, as well as a portion of administrative expenses.
- Tuition waivers, like financial aid, are student-focused, primarily serving to reduce or eliminate the cost burden of college coursework on apprentices. However, tuition waivers can vary greatly in their incentive structure and their corresponding effects on colleges that enroll apprentices. If colleges are reimbursed for waived tuition costs, apprentices are no different than any other students for accounting purposes. These “funded” waivers have program-focused components that resemble reimbursement systems. If colleges are not reimbursed, however, the waiver serves as a tuition exemption, which can create a potent disincentive for colleges to provide apprenticeship coursework.
There is no one right way to support apprenticeship coursework at college: Policymakers will need to find the ideal mix of support approaches to balance speed and sustainability as they expand apprenticeship opportunities in their states and regions.
Table 1: Pros and Cons of Four Supports for College-Connected Apprenticeship
| Support type | Model state system(s) | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student financial aid | Kentucky | Addresses college cost burdens for students and can integrate with dual enrollment and college promise initiatives. | Provides no direct incentive for employers to develop apprenticeship in nontraditional sectors. |
| Startup grants | New Jersey | Can be used to target college participation in apprenticeship partnerships, especially in nontraditional apprenticeship sectors. | May encourage proliferation of short-lived programs or provide insufficient support for cost-intensive programs in the long term. |
| Reimbursement systems | California and Texas | Reduces instructional costs for both apprentices and employers; can be accessed by both college-connected and traditional apprenticeship programs. | Generally, more expensive for states to provide, and may not sufficiently support nontraditional programs in early phases. |
| Tuition waivers | North Carolina | “Funded” waivers, which reimburse participating colleges, can eliminate apprentices’ costs and encourage employers and colleges to cooperate on RTI coursework. | “Unfunded” waivers, or tuition exemptions, can discourage colleges from providing credit-bearing RTI. |
State policies to support the costs of apprenticeship coursework at colleges depend on processes and constraints that are unique to each state and policy option. To help conceptualize how each of the four policy approaches affects the learners, employers, and institutions involved in apprentice instruction, the following sections contain vignettes exploring each policy approach from the perspective of two hypothetical apprentices, Christopher and Hana.
Christopher and Hana
Christopher is the average American apprentice. He is 30 years old, and is training to be an electrician—the most common apprentice occupation for men, and one that commonly requires a postsecondary certificate or associate degree. Electricians are well paid, earning a median wage of about $24 an hour when fully trained; this is important for Christopher, who has a young family. However, Christopher also aspires to one day become an electrical engineer, a job that generally requires a bachelor degree, so he is only interested in pursuing an apprenticeship that culminates in an associate degree or at least a credit-bearing certificate.
As far as American apprentices go, Hana is not so average. She is 19 years old, works part-time as a certified nursing assistant, and lives with her parents. A recent high school graduate, Hana got good grades and intends to pursue a bachelor degree but wants to save up money and get a better sense of her options and goals first. Hana’s mother, a registered nurse, encourages her to apply for a new degree apprenticeship in nursing offered by the regional health system where they both work. The program is three years long and will allow Hana to earn an associate degree and become a registered nurse while advancing in her current role.
Citations
- Interviewees represented the following states: California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. See Appendix for a full list of these experts and their titles.
- According to an online U.S. Department of Labor resource, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia provide tax credits for apprentice employers. New York and Illinois also enacted state apprenticeship tax credits in January 2018 and August 2019, respectively. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, “States that Offer Tax Credits for Hiring Apprentices,” source.
- Many types of organizations can play the role of an apprenticeship intermediary, including colleges, industry associations, or community-based organizations. A 2017 DOL guidance document, TEGL 13-16, defines intermediaries as organizations that “can serve as program sponsors when they take responsibility for the administration of a Registered Apprenticeship program. They can also provide expertise such as curriculum development, classroom instruction, and supportive services, as appropriate.” United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, “Training and Employment Notice No. 13-16: Operating Guidance for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act,” January 12, 2017, source.