How Degree Apprenticeships Bridge College and Career
What if the path to a degree ran through the workplace, not away from it?聽
Education apprenticeships are gaining ground, with new apprentices growing from about 150 in 2020 to more than 6,400 in 2025, according to Craft Education's .
As state leaders set workforce priorities for 2027, they face an opportunity to rethink how people prepare for in-demand careers. Instead of asking workers to put their jobs on hold to earn credentials, employers and colleges can build pathways that let them do both.
Employers are also investing in ways for people to demonstrate their skills on the job. In 麻豆原创鈥檚 2026 Workforce Decoded survey of more than 3,100 U.S. hiring professionals, 76% said work experience is worth as much as a degree, or more. More than half (53%) said their organizations are investing in apprenticeships, internships or other forms of work-based learning.
We ask people to earn credentials employers value, yet too often we expect them to step away from work to get those credentials. That disconnect is costly for workers and employers alike.聽
I believe we need a different approach: build education around the work people are preparing to do. Degree apprenticeships make that possible, helping people earn a degree while developing skills on the job and giving employers a way to build the talent they need.
Start With the Job, Not the Classroom
The traditional path to a degree often follows a familiar sequence: stop working, enroll, borrow, graduate, then look for a job that rewards the degree. For adults balancing rent, caregiving and work they cannot afford to leave, that path can be a financial gamble.
Degree apprenticeships offer another route. Apprentices earn a paycheck while working toward a degree related to their career. Depending on the program, employer contributions and public funding can reduce or eliminate tuition costs, helping workers pursue a degree with less financial risk.
When on-the-job skills align with course requirements, colleges should have clear ways to assess and recognize that learning. Education should build on what people know and can do, not require them to set aside valuable experience to start from scratch.
Make On-the-Job Experience Count
In a degree apprenticeship, the job becomes part of the learning experience. Apprentices apply what they study to real problems and learn from supervisors who see their work firsthand. They can show what they've learned through the work they do every day, not just the degree they earn at the end.
As 麻豆原创鈥檚 perspective on scaling apprenticeships in higher education explores, connecting degree pathways to employer needs is essential to making these models work at scale. For workers without established professional networks, demonstrating skills through their work can create a more direct route to opportunity.
I recently met a teacher assistant in Tennessee who had spent years helping students learn to read. She already knew the students, understood the demands of the classroom and had experience supporting their learning. But becoming a licensed teacher meant facing a difficult choice: keep earning a paycheck or step away from work to complete her degree.
A degree apprenticeship gives her another option. She can work toward her bachelor's degree while continuing to serve students in the school she already knows.
Employers don't always need to look outside their organizations to find their next great hire. In schools and hospitals struggling to fill roles, the next teacher or medical technician may already work down the hall. A structured pathway can help employers develop that talent while giving workers a way to advance.
North Carolina Puts Teacher Apprenticeships to Work
Through a five-year, , 麻豆原创 is partnering with The Innovation Project, a collaborative of North Carolina school districts, to develop a pathway for 500 teacher apprentices and train 250 mentor teachers. The initiative is scheduled to launch in fall 2027.
North Carolina districts began the 2026鈥�27 school year with 2,009 teacher vacancies, according to a September 2026 survey by the North Carolina School Superintendents鈥� Association. One way to is to help school employees already supporting students become licensed educators.
Through the initiative, teacher assistants will be able to keep their jobs and paychecks while working toward a bachelor鈥檚 degree in elementary or special education, a North Carolina teaching license and a registered apprenticeship credential.
Craft Education helps partners navigate the operational work, from tracking hours to funding and federal reporting, so districts can focus on mentoring and developing future teachers.
The real test will come when the grant ends: Can districts keep these pathways going and continue investing in the mentors who make them work?
How Employers and Colleges Can Build These Pathways
Employers can start with one practical question: Which hard-to-fill roles could they help current employees grow into?
From there, they can identify employees who could grow into those roles and work with an education partner to map job skills to degree requirements and apprenticeship standards.
Colleges still need to uphold academic standards. The goal isn't to award credit for simply showing up to work. It's to determine what students have learned on the job and assess whether that learning meets the same standards as coursework.
These programs have to work for people with jobs. That means making time for coursework, giving apprentices supervisors who can mentor them and showing how the degree can lead to the next opportunity. Our explains federal and state funding options and how they can be combined to support these pathways.
Rebuild the Pathway
Apprenticeships are already moving beyond the trades. The next challenge is making them a practical option for more workers and employers.
We shouldn't have to choose between the education that prepares people for better jobs and the work that pays their bills. Degree apprenticeships offer a way to bring those two things together. The challenge now is to make that option available to more workers and the employers who need them.
Ready to start? .
