Training Apprentices: A Winning Opportunity for Higher Education

Aimee DiBrienza, Director of Adult & Workforce Education, Southern Utah University

Aimee DiBrienza, Director of Adult & Workforce Education, Southern Utah University

The Inflation Reduction Act (Aug 2022) has created an innovative opportunity for higher education to intersect with business. It established tax incentives for employers who hire and provide on the job training (OJT) for registered apprentices, who numbered nearly 680,000 in 2024 and are on track to surpass those numbers in 2025 (ApprenticeshipUSA). What’s more, registered apprentices are required to complete at least 144 hours of Related Technical Instruction (RTI) annually in addition to their OJT. RTI is training that can be delivered online and asynchronously, so offering courses designed to meet apprentice training needs within their industry is a natural match for professional education units at universities who hope to offer credit to the adult and online audiences. For Professional, Continuing, and Online offices, or PCO units, designing and delivering skills-based training is business as usual, and PCO units are expanding across the country as institutions of higher education see the need to broaden their target audience and improve onramps into degree programs.

The Department of Labor has made it easy to develop and offer a registered apprenticeship, and whether the higher education institution wants to be an intermediary or a sponsor or just provide RTI, their website can guide you through the process. Notably, since employers want the significant tax incentives established by IRA, they are eager to find registered apprenticeships for their existing employees or to hire potential registered apprentices and get them into an apprenticeship program to qualify. Qualified employers must offer a competitive living wage, provide for employee safety, and ensure a growth plan with wage increases for developing employees. For those employers, the tax incentives and contributions of engaged, developing talent are an obvious win. For the workforce, it’s a formula for excellent employment, personal growth, and a high wage career. And for colleges and universities, registered apprenticeship RTI programs create new on-ramps into courses, a willing and motivated audience from the workforce, and business partners who are engaged in building curriculum collaboratively. In fact, the majority of businesses employing registered apprentices are happy to inform curriculum development, pay for the cost of the program, and often enroll a number of employees at once, providing a ready roster of students and their tuition dollars. Many states even offer tuition support for registered apprenticeships. Explore what your state is doing here.

If you’re thinking this is too good to be true, I get it. After all, how often does an opportunity emerge that benefits companies, institutions, and employees, and improves the entire By Aimee DiBrienza, Director of Adult & Workforce Education, Southern Utah University economic ecosystem? What’s the downside? For institutions already in the habit of examining workforce needs and responding with flexible, accessible programming, this opportunity is lowhanging fruit. Institutions with strong connections to their local industry partners are many steps ahead, and if they are already building collaboratively, it’s a sure win. Unfortunately there are a lot of institutions of higher education who haven’t built the engine for this type of work yet. While the movement is powerful and can be found nationwide, institutions entrenched in traditional curriculum development processes without the agility to work at the speed of industry will miss it entirely. The time for developing registered apprenticeship content is NOW. As we move into a future beyond the enrollment cliff, colleges and universities will need to explore new avenues for recruitment and connect more deeply than ever with industry trends and emerging training demands. Traditional academic speed just isn’t fast enough. This is just one example of shifts that push higher education toward industry alignment and responsiveness. Over the past several decades, a focus on skills over degrees, gaps in workplace readiness for college graduates, emerging alternative learning models (competency-based, experiential, and online are a few), pressure for accountability and ROI, policy shifts, and the connection between institutions and their local economic ecosystems have all challenged higher education to evolve. Forward facing institutions are already prepared to respond, and RTI for registered apprenticeships will be a win-win for those institutions and their communities.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or intermediary, or just want to build and provide the RTI for such a program, check out the Department of Labor’s website for background information, contacts, templates for application, a list of providers and potential business partners: https://www. apprenticeship.gov/employers/explore-apprenticeship.

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