From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   More Students Are Turning Away From College and Toward Apprenticeships   
   By Douglas Belkin, March 16, 2023, WSJ   
      
   Last spring Dina Sosa Cruz sat with her parents and sister in the family’s   
   living room and reviewed her options: a full academic ride to the University   
   of the District of Columbia, or an apprenticeship in the insurance industry.    
      
   The college route meant at the end of four years the 22-year-old would have a   
   degree, a little debt and no work experience. The apprenticeship would leave   
   her with a two-year degree, money in the bank and training in a profession   
   that appealed to her.    
      
   Her family was unanimous: Take the apprenticeship. “You’ll be worry   
   free,” her mother said.    
      
   Family conversations like the one in Ms. Cruz’s living room are bubbling up   
   around the country as high-school seniors recalibrate their options after the   
   pandemic prompted a historic disengagement from school. The result has been   
   the acceleration of a    
   shift away from the nation’s half-century “college-for-all” model toward   
   a choice of either college or vocational programs—including apprenticeships.    
      
   Today, colleges and universities enroll about 15 million undergraduate   
   students, while companies employ about 800,000 apprentices. In the past   
   decade, college enrollment has declined by about 15%, while the number of   
   apprentices has increased by more    
   than 50%, according to federal data and Robert Lerman, a labor economist at   
   the Urban Institute and co-founder of Apprenticeships for America.   
      
   Apprenticeship programs are increasing in both number and variety. About 40%   
   are now outside of construction trades, where most have traditionally been,   
   Dr. Lerman said. Programs are expanding into white-collar industries such as   
   banking, cybersecurity    
   and consulting at companies including McDonald’s Corp., Accenture PLC and   
   JPMorgan Chase & Co.   
      
   Apprenticeships take many forms but generally pair students with a course of   
   study focused on a particular occupation and practical work experience under   
   the supervision of a mentor. Typically, employers pay costs associated with   
   school as well as a wage.   
       
      
   Some programs have boomed in popularity, with admission rates as competitive   
   as those at some Ivy League universities.   
      
   The gap between the number of students going to college and those selecting   
   apprenticeships is closing as many employers are struggling to find workers in   
   the tightest job market in half a century. Meanwhile, more students say they   
   are wary of enrolling    
   in college for fear it will leave them in debt and holding a degree that   
   hasn’t prepared them for a good job in a fast-changing labor market.    
      
   As a result, some employers say a mismatch has developed between the skills   
   employers are seeking and the lessons students are learning in college and   
   university courses. To address the mismatch, companies are dropping   
   requirements for degrees for some    
   jobs, and states are rebuilding the vocational-education pathways that were   
   de-emphasized two generations ago when the nation adopted a coll   
   ge-preparatory path for nearly all students.    
      
   Companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Delta Air Lines Inc. and IBM Corp.   
   have responded by dropping college degrees as requirements for some positions   
   and shifting hiring to focus more on skills and experience. Pennsylvania has   
   cut college-degree    
   requirements for some state jobs, and Maryland has set a statewide goal of 45%   
   of high-school students starting a registered apprenticeship by 2031.    
      
   About 1/3 of Maryland high-school grads have earned a community-college degree   
   or 4-year-college degree by the age of 25, said State Sen. James Rosapepe, who   
   has championed the apprenticeship programs. He called that proof that the   
   college-for-all model    
   is falling short.   
      
   Mr. Rosapepe characterized the national skills mismatch as an information   
   problem. Colleges and the military actively recruit in high schools to educate   
   students about their options. Little information, he said, is shared about all   
   the other trades or    
   professions.    
      
   “We’ve paved the path for the 1/3, and we let the other 2/3 wander   
   aimlessly in the woods,” said Mr. Rosapepe. “It’s not fair to them and   
   it’s obviously economically inefficient.”   
      
   Zurich North America, an insurance firm, says it hired 92 apprentices last   
   year, many right out of high school, from more than 800 applicants. Most   
   apprentices attend community college. They are based in offices across the   
   country where they work stints    
   in different departments such as underwriting, claims, audit, statistical   
   reporting, IT, cybersecurity and reinsurance, said Al Crook, who leads the   
   company’s apprenticeship program.   
      
   EJ Crespo, 20, is now in the billing audit department at Zurich’s office in   
   Schaumburg, Ill., outside of Chicago. He said there is an adjustment to   
   working in an office with people his parents’ age, but said he has become   
   proficient at data analysis    
   and Excel since he began.   
      
   He earns about $40,000 a year while taking four classes a semester at a   
   community college and working 24 hours a week during the school year—and   
   full time in summer.    
      
   “I literally didn’t know anything when I got here, and they taught me all   
   these skills,” he said.   
      
   The Aon PLC apprenticeship program in which Ms. Cruz enrolled began in 2016   
   and that year accepted 40% of applicants. Last year, the program drew 1,100   
   applicants for 90 spots. This year, the applicant pool grew to 1,500 for 100   
   positions. That 7%    
   acceptance rate makes the program as selective as Cornell University and   
   Dartmouth College.   
      
   “A lot of the growth is word-of-mouth,” said Bridget Gainer, spokeswoman   
   for Aon, a global professional-services firm based in Chicago.   
      
   The longest-tenured apprentices are 4 years past graduation and are earning   
   15% to 25% more than when they started, she said. They have also been easier   
   to retain.   
      
   Research from other countries shows that success may be short-lived. Eric A.   
   Hanushek, a Stanford University economist, said that the skills learned in an   
   apprenticeship might not be of much help down the line.    
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)