WASHINGTON — Citing the “increasingly unaffordable” cost of higher education and arguing that many colleges and universities “fail” to help graduates get the skills needed for high-paying jobs, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order Thursday that calls for the expansion of apprenticeships and more support for institutions that infuse apprenticeships into their coursework.
“Far too many individuals today find themselves with crushing student debt and no direct connection to jobs,” the executive order states.
“Expanding apprenticeships and reforming ineffective education and workforce development programs will help address these issues, enabling more Americans to obtain relevant skills and high-paying jobs,” it continues.
Although the order contains a specific provision that directs the Secretary of Education to “support the efforts of community colleges and 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education to incorporate apprenticeship programs into their courses of study,” some education policy experts and a U.S. Congressman said it’s unclear how that or other aspects of the executive order will work.
The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to a request for information on what the word “support” means in the executive order and whether that support is at all monetary.
“It’s interesting that they call out the need to better connect apprenticeships with higher education and community colleges and four-year programs, but there’s nothing else in the executive order that would make you think that what they’re doing is going to make that easier to do,” said Mary Alice McCarthy, director of the Center on Education and Skills at New America, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), ranking member of the House committee on education and the workforce, said in a press call after the signing, which he attended, that there is broad bipartisan support for apprenticeships. However, he said a number of unresolved questions remain about how the executive order might be implemented, particularly around the creation of new programs that might be funded by federal dollars.
