The college-to-career pipeline is broken, and the best way to fix it is to give students more latitude in choosing their own work-based learning experiences, says Jane Swift, president of Education at Work and former governor of Massachusetts, on the latest University Business Podcast.
“There’s a lot to be upset about our colleges and universities, but to expect them to be able to do something that the private sector themselves aren’t doing successfully—early career talent training—is unfair.”
While a few young people can afford to take an unpaid internship, most college students must work while in school, stripping them of the opportunity to gain critical career experience. Whether it be a job around town or a federal work-study program, working students are often left working odd jobs with little parallel to their career aspirations, Swift says.
“There are a lot of things that have people freaked out about the election of the Trump administration, but sometimes disrupting a system is a good thing. Federal work-study is something that could really use disruption.”
During President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, he proposed slashing federal work-study by 80% and moving the money toward “workforce and career training opportunities.”
One way to remodel work-based learning is by turning federal work-study dollars over to students and their parents so that they can immerse themselves into the workforce without the worry of wages and living expenses, Swift says.
Another way is by helping bring more employers to the table to participate with organizations that function as intermediaries between academia and industry. For example, Education at Work communicates with both sectors to help students find career-aligned jobs that accommodate their academic schedules and provide competitive wages.
“We treat students who have to work the way that colleges and universities treat their D1 athletes,” she says.
Check out our last podcast: How to work together to adapt to new realities
More from UB: Whip up student engagement with these 3 useful approaches
