Apprenticeship The Other Bachelors Degree
[Music]
[Applause]
if you went to college at the rape old
age of 18
there’s a good chance you had no idea
what you want to do with your life
you’d been asked ad nauseam about what
you wanted to be when you grew up
only to give some sort of vague answer
then
off you marched to one academic building
or another and hope you’d figure it out
along the way
sound familiar the lucky among us got
some sort of grasp within those four
years about what might make us tick
the especially lucky found that business
law
engineering medicine those types of
degrees really got them going
or at least they got them going enough
to pursue such lucrative degrees
the rest of us settled for something
like a liberal arts or a social science
degree
and hoped for the best many of us in
school 20 plus years ago remember the
traditional college experience
with a degree of fondness and a lot of
us did figure out our paths
either in school or thereafter as such
many parents today want that same
experience for their high school kids
who are preparing to graduate
yet 18 year olds now are often just as
unsure about what they
want to be when they grow up and
considering the record high college
costs faced by today’s graduates
and the distinct possibility that
they’ll likely be staggering a debt when
they do finish
many of them don’t have that same luxury
to figure it out the whole situation has
young people feeling hopeless
and their parents wondering when they’re
going to move out of their basements
at the root of all of this is
problematic thinking too many americans
still believe that earning a bachelor’s
degree is the only way to achieve
economic
upward mobility while it is a viable
pathway
it’s not the only option a traditional
apprenticeship
offers in-depth hands-on education that
takes the same amount of time as a
bachelor’s degree
yet few students and their parents have
ever considered this path
as a means to achieve a long-term career
in a substantial wage premium
without a degree here’s the terrible
truth
college costs have increased more than
250 percent in the last 30 years
it shouldn’t be this way but it is the
average cost of a four-year degree is
now over 96
000 and that’s just for tuition alone
add in the cost of books
housing and other miscellaneous expenses
and the average bachelor’s degree runs
anywhere from 125 to 150 thousand
dollars
student loan debt sticks with college
graduates years or even decades after
they’ve graduated
in fact over 20 percent of bachelor’s
degree students owe more than fifty
thousand dollars
six percent more or more than a hundred
thousand dollars
meanwhile an average trade school degree
the type which can also be earned at a
community college only costs an average
of thirty three thousand dollars
plus students get paid while they learn
and if you think an apprenticeship is a
form of settling i challenge you to
think again
the average 20-year net income for
apprenticeship students
is 441 thousand dollars more than the
20-year average for bachelor’s degrees
recipients
and almost 90 percent of employers
surveyed say that having apprentices
added value to their business
beyond all the statistics though there
is a lot to be said for the life
enriching experience that an
apprenticeship offers
apprenticeships create multiple career
pathways to future and educational
opportunities
a traditional apprenticeship combines
eight thousand hours of on-the-job
training that is tailored to the
specific trade the trend
the apprentice is pursuing and
apprentices receive a minimum of 576
contact
hours of education that is selected to
directly enhance and underscore the
on-the-job training
what many prospective apprentices and
their parents don’t realize
is that this education is often
completed at a community college
or can be articulated for credit down
the road more on that later
an apprenticeship differs from earning a
bachelor’s degree and then it’s a job
from day one
programs registered with united states
department of labor office of
apprenticeship
have an earn while you learn model that
requires participants to be paid during
their apprenticeship
that means that apprentices start
earning a wage right away before
enrolling apprentices
are aware of their starting salary when
they’ll get a raise and what
income range they can expect upon
completing their program
plus programs determine the wage scale
that all apprentices will receive
throughout their program so they can
expect equitable pay to other
apprentices in the program
and financially plan for the duration of
it even though apprentices are getting
paid to learn
most apprentices earn college credit for
the educational piece of their program
as many employers utilize community
colleges for the education
this credit can lead to associate
degrees and depending on the industry
it could even later contribute to a
bachelor’s degree so it’s a potential
backdoor entry for those who wish to
pursue such a degree in the future
even for those who do not earn college
credit maybe they went to a trade school
for the educational piece of their
apprenticeship
there are multiple pathways to easily
convert their education to college
credit
through initiatives such as the
registered apprenticeship college
consortium
another sizable difference between
getting a bachelor’s degree and doing an
apprenticeship
is that apprentices are assigned a
mentor or a series of mentors
to ensure the apprentice has the
training she or he needs to be
successful throughout the term of their
program
so while traditional college students
may find inspiration from a professor or
teacher for a single semester
students like apprentices have someone
to guide them through the on-the-job
training over the entire term of the
apprenticeship
this means they’ve got somebody to go to
to talk about the work experience to
talk about how the education relates to
that
it’s impossible to put a value on that
then there’s the value of making
industry contacts from day one
something that won’t likely happen while
you’re getting a bachelor’s degree at
least not as fluidly
because whom you know is as important as
what you know it may be cliche but it’s
true
finally apprentices earn a usdol
credential upon successful completion of
their apprenticeship
this certifies that they are a master in
their trade which is completely
different
than graduating with a bachelor’s degree
and then going out into the world as a
newbie with no practical experience
the usdl credential is recognized across
the country
and clearly communicates a workers
skills to potential employers
apprenticeships are proven workforce
development tools that offer substantial
benefits to both workers and the
businesses that use them
this is why an increasing number of
organizations are offering these
programs
as employers come to view this method of
training as a viable alternative to a
university degree
they also give high school graduates who
aren’t interested in a traditional
degree
real hope for the future and it just may
be the ticket for weary parents hoping
their young birds
will send from the basement and finally
take flight