Robert I. Lerman American University and Urban Institute

 Apprenticeship plays a modest role ▪ Only about 3-4% of inflow of workers  Colleges dominate post-secondary education  Many types of colleges, but three main groups ▪ 4 year colleges offering BA degrees and above ▪ 2 year community colleges, publicly financed, with Associates (AA) degrees—academic & occupation tracks ▪ Private for-profit trade schools, 2 years but often less; schools range from large, national to small, local ones 1

 Enrollment as of Fall 2009 was  12.9 million students in four-year colleges  7.1 million in community colleges  0.4 in private two-year colleges  substantial numbers in private colleges not reporting and with short programs  Less than.5 million apprentices 2

 National Center for Education Statistics reports that 3,833 colleges of less than four years awarded 981,000 career and technical credentials. For-prof!t schools accounted for at least 36 percent of these credentials  Actual figure is higher but data tracks only certain types of career colleges. 3

 An occupational certification through: 1) an associate’s degree in a specific field; 2) an academic certification, generally an associate of arts or associate of science degree, largely aimed at students will transfer to a four-year college; or 3) a certification based on a limited number of courses. 4

 Community colleges have an important place in expanding skills—evidence shows positive returns, to years and degrees, but size varies  But CC education is uneven and often falls short, partly because of weak links with employers, poor qualifications of entrants, minimal guidance, high costs, and now capacity constraints, crowded classrooms  Not comfortable for people who learn best by doing, in the workplace

 Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities (250,000), health professions 145,000 including 67,000 in registered nursing), business management, & marketing(100,000).  Placing health and business majors in the career clusters and categorizing the other majors, we find about half the degrees are in career-oriented areas 6

 Skill preparation, but not mainly for youth  Registered apprenticeships were were about 27,000 registered apprenticeship sponsors training about 480,000 apprentices as of 2008, implying an average of about 18 apprentices per sponsor  They are highly concentrated in construction, energy, manufacturing, transportation and communication, and public administration occupations jumped between 2003 and 2007; significant share in the military  Many, unknown number in other apprenticeships 7

 Community colleges well positioned to provide academic training but usually not the workplace training central to expertise  Many apprenticeship programs use community colleges for the classroom component  Certification is a key value for workers, firms  Both community colleges and apprentice programs offer occupational certification 8

 The patterns vary widely; some apprenticeship programs see no added value in an associates degree; others encourage workers to obtain degrees  Some community college officials show little appreciation for an apprenticeship certificate  Still, the prospects for additional collaboration are promising; federal grants are encouraging the two institutions to work together 9

 Divide by construction—other occupations  24 percent of apprentices in construction obtain instruction through community/technical colleges  42 percent of other apprentices do so  Nearly all sponsors of automotive manufacturing and hospitality apprenticeships report using community or technical colleges, as do 61 percent of apprenticeships in the health care area  About half of sponsors provide their own instruction 10

 About 10% of apprentices report having an A.A. degree; another 15 percent report at least a B.A.  Washington State has above average apprentice program, subsidizes tuition at community colleges  Most sponsors use community colleges  In Florida, which provides some community college subsidies, only 20% of sponsors use these colleges 11

 In Virginia, 12 of the 23 community colleges provide related instruction to apprentices.  Occupations covered include several construction trades, as well as computer technology, welding, and machinist, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning of HVAC trades.  In most of the programs, the courses do count toward an associate’s degree or certificate  Tuition for apprentices is the standard rate for all students, usually paid paid by the employer. 12

 An Arkansas program doesn’t use community college instructors because state law requires instructors to have different qualifications as master practitioners than most professors have  Apprentices in many programs see no need for the additional certification from community colleges  Many programs have full schools especially geared toward state licensing requirements—they see no need for an associates degree 13

 Lineworkers in Michigan require workers to obtain associates degree along with apprentice credential  One reason is the program is not registered and thus is not certified with the U.S. Labor Department  Several community colleges provide college credit for skills developed at apprenticeships  Major auto companies have worked with community colleges to develop courses for auto repair technicians and apprenticeship training 14

 Recently looked at the feasibility for estimating impacts of apprenticeship on long-term care workforce (nurses’ aides, etc.)  Effort to force community college component but it was considered too costly in light of the limited wage potential in this field  May see future partnerships even here 15

 Some but not a large overlap between apprenticeable fields and majors in community colleges  Job openings in occupations that are currently apprenticeable are large in fields where community college have few majors:  Construction (1.2 million)  Truck Drivers (0.7 million)  Auto Repair (0.5 million)  Welders, Repair, Machinists (0.4 million)  Corrections, Police, Fire (0.3 million) 16

 Health professions, especially nursing, are key fields where occupational expertise is gained both through community college and apprenticeship programs  Computer and various business fields are now rarely taught through apprenticeships but could be in the future 17

 No direct comparisons for the same occupations  Non-experimental evidence from Washington State based on method that matches workers on earnings before they enter one or another type of training  Includes workers who enter public job centers  The study tracked their earnings after training using administrative records drawn from the unemployment insurance system 18

 Bring together community colleges, firms, and workers as part of broad effort-use new CC grants  Meets various criteria—jointly designed with firms, basic skills with occupational training, transparent career pathways  Provide allocation to employers for education costs of program—perhaps fund 1 of each 4 apprentices if recruitment is at One-Stop  Insure employers can access occupation skill profiles 21

 Stimulated by the state chamber, the state began providing $1 million per year to expand apprenticeship—base is a technical college  Also, a $1,000 tax credit per apprentice per year  Effort so far has led to one new program per week, 50% increase in apprentices  Shows what can be done with close marketing  Cost per added apprentice is $3,600; present value of earnings gains at least $100,000  Maryland starting new initiative 22