Apprentice Nation How the "Earn and Learn" Alternative to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America

College isn’t for everyone. It’s time to challenge the status quo and embrace the potential of apprenticeships in tech, healthcare, finance, and more—which can provide a sustainable pathway to economic opportunity.

For decades, college has been the only respectable way to access the world of work, despite paralyzing tuition and a dire lack of practical  
skills that has left 40 percent of college graduates underemployed, unfulfilled, and struggling to repay student loan debt.

Education and workforce expert Ryan Craig explores how a modern apprenticeship system will allow students and job seekers to jump-start their careers by learning while they earn—ultimately leading to greater workforce diversity and geographic mobility.

With a deep dive into the history behind America’s outdated college system, Craig reveals:

• The origins of the student debt crises and admissions scandals
• Why apprenticeships are an effective pathway to career opportunity
• What America can do to catch up with other nations making apprenticeship opportunities broadly available
• Where students and job seekers can go to land an apprenticeship

Featuring a directory of US apprenticeship programs by industry and location, Apprentice Nation is an accessible blueprint for a country where young Americans of all backgrounds can launch careers in a variety of in-demand fields. With just a few common sense changes to education and workforce development, anapprentice nation will put the American Dream within reach—for everyone.

Ryan Craig is a managing director at Achieve Partners, an investment firm engineering the future of learning and earning. He is the author of A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College, named in the Wall Street Journal as one the Books of the Year for 2018. He is also the author of College Disrupted: The Great Unbundling of Higher Education. Ryan’s writing appears regularly in the Gap Letter, Forbes, and Inside Higher Education. He is a cofounder of Apprenticeships for America, a national nonprofit dedicated to scaling apprenticeships across the U.S. economy. Previously, Ryan led the Education & Training sector at Warburg Pincus. His prior experience in online education was at Columbia University. From 2004 to 2010, Ryan founded and built Wellspring, a national network of boarding schools and summer camps for overweight and obese children, adolescents, and young adults. He began his career at McKinsey & Co. Ryan received bachelor’s degrees summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, and his law degree from the Yale Law School. He lives in Pacific Palisades, CA, with his wife, three boys, and goldendoodle.