For minority students looking to improve their career prospects, Registered Apprenticeship (RA) is one of the best bets.
The program, established by Congress in 1937, mixes paid on-the-job training with relevant school instruction in everything from plumbing to social work. Not only does RA allow students to “earn while they learn,” it pays off after graduation. According to the Department of Labor, 93% of students who complete their Apprenticeships are hired by the companies that they apprenticed with, at an average salary of $77,000. However, only 11% of schools with substantial minority enrollment, such as HBCUs and Tribal Colleges, offer these opportunities, according to a new report from the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI).
Dr. Marybeth Gasman
According to the report’s authors, the main reason is that, despite its success, RA has been obscure.
“I’m going to be honest,” said Dr. Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the CMSI and an author of the report, “I’ve been studying higher education since 1994. I didn’t know anything about it.”
“I think the focus at most colleges and universities has been on four-year degrees, and thus Registered Apprenticeship might not always be on the radar. Also, most people think Apprenticeship is only about the trades and might be steering people away from it as such. Lastly, the federal government hasn’t pushed Registered Apprenticeship much in the past,” she said in an email to Diverse.
