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In today’s issue: A model for apprenticeships from Switerland and Indiana, early signs AI is reshaping entry-level jobs, and how regional colleges are scaling online.

⚡️BREAKING: The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a bill on Tuesday that would reshape federal student-aid programs.

The legislation still has a long way to go, but in a one-party town, expect to see some of the bill’s provisions to make it through, partly because they mirror some of the College Cost Reduction Act, which was introduced in the last Congress.

There’s lot to watch in this bill, according to theWashington Post’s Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, but four pieces in particular that I’m following:

1️⃣ New borrowing limits. Instead of putting limits on how much students can borrow depending on the year they’re in college—as is the case now—the bill would tie annual borrowing limits to the median cost of a student’s academic program. “That means an engineering major and an English major could have different annual loan limits,” “Douglas-Gabriel writes.

2️⃣ Colleges on the hook. The bill introduces “risk sharing” to the student loan program, meaning colleges would need to pay the government based on the share of debt held by former students who are delinquent on their loans.

3️⃣ Parent loans limited. Parents would only be eligible for federal Parent Plus loans if their child borrows the maximum annual amount and still needs help to cover the remaining costs. The bill also imposes aggregate limits on the loans.

4️⃣ Interest adds up. The proposal seeks to end subsidized student loans—where the government pays the interest while the student is in school—for new borrowers after 2026.

EVENT

🎓 The “Next Office Hour” | Thursday, May 15, 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT

Just in time for graduation season, our May episode will explore how colleges can better prepare students for an AI-powered workplace. I’ll be joined by:

• José Antonio Bowen, former president of Goucher College and co-author ofTeaching With AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning
• Angela Gunder, founder and CEO of Opened Culture, and an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona
• Matthew Kinservik, vice provost for faculty affairs, University of Delaware

👉 Register here to join us live or get the recording. (With support from Adobe)

📘A LOOK INSIDE: DREAM SCHOOL In the months ahead, I’ll be sharing exclusive previews from my new book, Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You (September 9)

What’s happening: Gen X parents are increasingly questioning the value of paying top dollar so their kids can pursue prestige. Over the past decade, a significant shift has emerged in parents’ perceptions of name-brand colleges—particularly when they’re faced with paying full price or close to it, according to the annual survey “How Americans Pay for College.”

Why it matters: Families are now opting for merit scholarships at schools deeper in the rankings, “skipping over” once-coveted schools in favor of a better financial deal elsewhere.

💡Reminder: Pre-orderDream School today to unlock these bonuses:

• A downloadable guide to help put the book’s advice into action—available for a limited time.
• Access to two live webcasts with college admissions leaders (including an AMA with me). The first one: May 12.

After ordering, complete this form to unlock your bonuses.

THE LEAD

Tomorrow is May 1. It’s a date informally known as “College Decision Day,” the traditional deadline for seniors to put their deposits down for a spot in the fall class.

I’ve been thinking about this change in the calendar to May—the unofficial end of one admissions cycle and the beginning of the next—because while cleaning out old boxes recently I found this note from an Ithaca College admissions officer. The postmark: July 17, 1990 (check out the postage of only 15 cents).

That was the summer between my junior and senior year of high school.My parents and I had just visited Ithaca a few days earlier. The next summer, I’d be back on campus for orientation. Then a few months later, the start of my first year of college.

Finding this postcard at the top of a stack of college papers also reminded me that 30 years ago this May I graduated from Ithaca.

That five-year period, from the beginning of the college search to the end of the journey at graduation, was one of profound discovery and change for me— like I imagine it was for many parents reading this. We likely all experienced that evolution in some way—at campuses large and small, selective and open, rural and urban, with football or fraternities or neither.

There is no perfect fit in a college. I didn’t call my new book Dream School because there is one.

The dream isn’t about a single name or a universally understood brand like the Ivy League. It’s about finding a place where you can thrive, learn, and become the person you’re meant to be. It’s about considering a range of colleges that fit both your personality and how you like to learn.

Do you want a small school in a college town, an urban university with ample city life, or a big public flagship where football on Saturday and Greek life are the main attractions? What about academics? Do you want a pressure cooker where every day feels like a competition, or more of a balanced vibe?

So if there’s no perfect fit, how do you find a good enough one?

In reporting Dream School, I met students who landed at colleges they hadn’t expected to choose. What felt important as juniors—or even the night before Decision Day—often faded once they were actually on campus.

Their stories echoed key themes that aligned with the research and shaped my conclusions about what truly matters in a college:

🏗️ Scaffolding: Does the college offer a strong foundation early on, with support systems that gradually give way to independence? Ask about orientation and first-year programs.

🔗 Connecting: Will students find their people—classmates, professors, mentors—who make it feel like home? Professors who stay after class and show up to their office hours matter. So does dorm living. But extracurriculars may be even more essential.

• What was interesting in my discussions with students who went to highly selective colleges—their “dream school”—were their stories about the competition to get into the “right” clubs.

🛠️ Equipping: Does the college equip students with specific skills and mindsets to thrive after graduation—whether that’s in a job, grad school, or another path? Skills combined with the degree can change everything. Here’s an example: marketing majors with data analytics skills earn $24,000 more a year than those without it.

One final note on fit: I like this survey thatThe New York Times conducted a few years ago comparing what teenagers prioritized in the search for the right fit compared to what recent college graduates said they liked in their college. The biggest difference between the two groups: class size.

When I found the postcard from Ithaca College, I reached out to Mike Heeter, who wrote the note. He’s now the director of college counseling at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. I told him the difference Ithaca made in my life.

Would I have done just as well at another college? Would I have still ended up in Washington, DC? Maybe. Or might I’ve found myself in an entirely different city, with an entirely different career. As I write in the conclusion of the new book: our dreams take shape as we live.

A good reminder for this April 30, no matter what college you choose.

A Patch for a Leaky System?

Less than a decade ago, 70% of American high-school graduates went straight on to college. Today, it’s just 62%

If the college-going rate today matched 2017 levels, we’d have nearly 290,000 more students in college—the equivalent of adding almost five campuses ofThe Ohio State University.

The college-for-all era has clearly lost momentum in the past decade, but each time I present this stat to different audiences the inevitable question is: what happens to those teenagers who don’t go right on to college?

1️⃣ Some aren’t going anywhere. They’re NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). In 2024, about 11% of Americans aged 16–24 were considered NEETs.

2️⃣ A large share of high school grads who skip college are taking jobs instead—often in lower-wage, lower-skill sectors like retail, food service, and warehousing. Some of them might end up in college later on through employers like Starbucks, Walmart, and Amazon, which have partnerships with universities.

Apprenticeships have long been proposed as one solution to engage high-school students not interested in college. That’s why in the U.S., apprenticeships have largely focused on the trades.

That’s slowly changing, according to a pair of episodes of Future U. we recently released, where we explored Switzerland’s apprenticeship model and new efforts to build an apprenticeship pipeline in Indiana.

My takeaways from these two conversations:

↔️ Permeability is everything. Switzerland isn’t tracking students into dead ends; they’re creating flexible pathways where learners move freely between vocational and academic routes.

• Students don’t have to choose between practical skills or higher education—they can pursue both throughout their journey.
• The Swiss system allows apprentices to transition to university through bridge programs that ensure doors remain open to college if they change their mind.

🎓 Professional pathways in Switzerland extend to the highest levels—equivalent to PhDs in some fields.

• The data shows the highest earners with lowest unemployment risk often have advanced professional qualifications or crossed between academic and vocational paths.
• This challenges America’s binary thinking about college versus career training. Top students choose apprenticeships because they combine real-world experience with rigorous academics, not because they couldn’t handle traditional university pathways.

🏆 Employers have to lead. Employer associations in Switzerland shape training standards, apprentices work three to four days a week on-site, and companies see an average 8% return on their investment. And the government spends less per student than in traditional education.

🖖 Flexibility matters. Indiana recently revamped its high-school graduation requirements that will allow students to spend 3-4 days weekly at a workplace.

• If employers are going to invest in apprenticeships, “they can’t just be there for a few hours, a couple days a week,” Claire Fiddian-Green, president and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, who is helping to lead the Indiana effort, told us. “They actually need to be there for full days to actually become a productive member of their team.”

🎧 Listen to Learning from the Swiss Apprenticeship Model followed byBuilding an Apprenticeship System in Indiana.

SUPPLEMENTS

📈 How to Grow Online Programs. The technology is the easy part when higher ed offers more programs online; the “real challenge is ensuring that there is an institutional culture where faculty and staff are prepared to take risks and are committed to change,” writes Richard Helldobler, president of William Paterson University in New Jersey, in the Foreword to the second part of a series on the strategy for regional universities to serve more place-bound, time-pressed learners online. (jeffselingo.com)

🤖 AI Goes to College. Higher ed is still valuable but it doesn’t confer the same labor advantages that it did 15 years ago, writes Derek Thompson. It could be an “early sign that artificial intelligence is starting to transform the economy.” (The Atlantic, subscription required)

🪧Reports Detail Hostility on Campus. Harvard University released the results of two internal task forces reports on campus climate that found it was hostile for those of Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian descent as the war in Gaza stoked tensions and protests in 2023-24.The Harvard Crimson has seven takeaways from the reports. (The Harvard Crimson)

👉 Finally, on May 8th, I’ll be joining my friends at Grown & Flown to provide more inside views of my forthcoming book. The event is virtual and free. Join us at 8 p.m. ET or to get the recording

Until next time, Cheers — Jeff