The Thread

North Carolina is scaling degree apprenticeships by integrating college credit into Registered Apprenticeship. Learn the model, employer role, funding, and lessons for building durable pathways.

Louisiana is tackling teacher shortages by piloting degree apprenticeships that combine paid school-based work with college credit. The approach reduces financial barriers and builds a stronger, local hiring pipeline.

Small rural hospitals may hire only a couple surgical techs a year—too little to sponsor an apprenticeship alone. A regional model can share sponsorship, instruction, and administration across hospitals.

A plain-language look at how "shifting the budget" works for rural hospital training: where the money already is, how braided funding fits in, and what has to be in place to make the shift.

Employers, providers, and funders all get counted in apprenticeship data. Intermediaries usually don't. Take the first national AFA and Education Northwest survey on intermediaries and help fix that.

When a hospital sends staff to a community college, there's no guarantee they return. An in-house apprenticeship changes who picks the candidate, who employs them, and who keeps them after certification.