New Apprenticeship College Tackles Dual Crises of Healthcare Shortages and Student Debt

SEATTLE, WA – April 9, 2026 – In a move aimed at addressing one of the nation's most pressing challenges, Reach University and the Training Fund today announced the launch of the Apprenticeship College of Health (ACH), a first-of-its-kind institution designed to build a new pipeline of healthcare professionals through debt-free, work-based degrees.

The innovative partnership seeks to directly confront the severe and growing shortage of credentialed healthcare workers by turning existing jobs into pathways for higher education and licensure. The program will debut in Washington state with an initial focus on the behavioral health sector, an area facing a particularly acute crisis.

By embedding college coursework directly into the workplace, the ACH will allow working adults—many already employed in entry-level healthcare roles—to earn an associate degree and professional certification without having to leave their jobs or take on student loans. This “earn-while-you-learn” model represents a significant departure from traditional higher education and a potentially scalable solution to a national problem.

A Response to a Deepening Crisis

The launch of the Apprenticeship College of Health comes at a critical moment for the U.S. healthcare system. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the healthcare and social assistance sector will add approximately 2.3 million jobs over the next decade, accounting for over a third of all new jobs in the economy. Yet the supply of trained professionals is failing to keep pace.

The deficit is especially stark in behavioral health. According to federal data, over 120 million Americans currently live in an area with a shortage of mental health professionals. The crisis is compounded by rising needs: one in five adults lives with a mental illness, yet nearly half receive no treatment. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has projected the nation could lack as much as half of the required behavioral health workforce by 2036.

“Traditional higher education must do more to ensure that a degree is worth the cost – especially for working adults,” said Dr. Preston Cooper, a senior research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “By enabling learners to earn a salary as they progress toward a credential and career pathway, this model delivers a clearer return on investment.”

The Apprenticeship Degree: A New Educational Paradigm

The core of the ACH is the apprenticeship degree, a model that Reach University has successfully pioneered in the education sector. The university’s Teachers College has already enrolled nearly 3,000 aspiring educators, allowing them to work in schools as paraprofessionals while earning their teaching credentials. Reach University holds institutional accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), which recently reaffirmed its status and lauded the potential of its innovative model.

ACH will replicate this proven framework for healthcare. The inaugural cohort in Washington will enroll in Reach University’s Associate of Arts in Liberal Studies, which features a social science concentration tailored to behavioral health. This degree pathway is designed to meet the state’s requirements for certification as a Substance Use Disorder Professional (SUDP), which includes both academic coursework and thousands of hours of supervised, on-the-job experience—a requirement naturally fulfilled by the apprenticeship structure.

For employers, the model shifts workforce development from a short-term recruitment challenge to a long-term investment in cultivating a qualified, local talent pipeline. For employees, it removes the primary barriers to career advancement: cost and the need to stop working to attend school.

“We want to pave the way for America’s workplace to become its learning place, revitalizing the workforce and the American Dream,” said Joe E. Ross, president and CEO of Reach University. “This is undoubtedly a catalyst event that will bring critical healthcare to every community.”

A Partnership Forged on the Frontlines

The collaboration pairs Reach University’s academic and structural expertise with the on-the-ground industry knowledge of the Training Fund. Founded by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, the Training Fund is a labor-management partnership that has a long history of creating successful, employer-driven apprenticeship programs across Washington state. It has already graduated hundreds of apprentices in allied and behavioral health fields by working directly with the state's largest healthcare employers.

This existing infrastructure provides a powerful foundation for the ACH, ensuring its programs are aligned with real-world industry needs and employer commitments. The partnership has already garnered significant support from leading mental health philanthropies, including Ballmer Group, The Goodness Web, and Accelerate the Future.

“Our partnership with the Training Fund has demonstrated that apprenticeship pathways can rapidly build a representative, community-rooted workforce,” noted Andi Smith, executive director for Washington and national behavioral health at Ballmer Group. “The infusion of Reach’s national apprenticeship degrees will take this model to a new level of impact.”

Laura Hopkins, executive director of the Training Fund, emphasized the synergy of the collaboration. “What makes this partnership so powerful is the connectivity between Reach’s expertise in higher education and the Training Fund’s expertise in labor and industry,” she stated. Hopkins called for sustained investment and policy alignment to help expand the model nationally.

Scaling a Solution: Ambitions and Obstacles

While the initial launch is focused on Washington, the vision for the ACH is national. Reach University has already established a National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree with the ambitious goal of facilitating 3 million degree completions by 2035. The plan is to expand the ACH to other states and into other high-need healthcare fields pending accreditor and state approvals.

However, scaling such a model is not without challenges. Research on degree apprenticeships in other sectors has highlighted potential obstacles, including the high academic workload for apprentices who are also full-time employees and the need for significant employer capacity to provide quality on-the-job training and mentorship. Successfully integrating rigorous academic learning with the daily demands of patient care will be a critical task.

Furthermore, the model must overcome the long-held perception that work-based learning is less valuable than a traditional, campus-based degree. The success of the ACH will depend not only on its outcomes for students and employers but also on its ability to shift broader cultural attitudes about higher education.

The partners are now accepting applications for the first cohort of apprentices and are actively recruiting employer partners in Washington. The program's leaders believe they have all the necessary components in place to begin tackling a crisis that has for too long seemed intractable.