Rethinking the College-for-All Mindset
For years, Angelica Torres believed she had made a mistake by not going to college right after high school.
“When I was in school, the only ‘correct’ option was a four-year degree,” she said. “For a long time, I felt like I had done something wrong — like I was being punished for just wanting to go right into the workforce.”
After graduating high school, Torres took a job as an after-school worker and instructional assistant in the same public school system she had attended. She loved her work, but as she considered becoming a full-time teacher, she faced the same dilemma that stops many working adults: the traditional college pathway was expensive, inflexible, and disconnected from the job she was already doing.
Torres tried enrolling in college multiple times, but each attempt led to the same barriers. The cost was prohibitive, and the coursework often felt detached from the realities of teaching. She struggled to balance her job with school, and without clear support, she couldn’t make it work.
“I did extensive research, but I couldn’t find any options that fit my needs,” she said.
Finding a Solution in Reach University
That changed when she found Reach University, a nonprofit university designed to turn jobs into degrees through Apprenticeship Degrees. Instead of forcing working adults to leave their careers or take on debt, Reach structures its programs around job-embedded learning. Students earn credit for the work they do in their current roles, making their path to a degree more career aligned and affordable.
Torres also appreciated that Reach treated her like a person with a life beyond her studies. She had previously earned an associate’s degree at a local community college but found the experience impersonal.
“At the other school, there was a ‘take it or leave it’ tone to all of my interactions,” she said. “With Reach, they just know that you are a professional working full time and have a family of your own and life happens. They work with that.”
Through Reach, Torres was able to continue working while pursuing her teaching degree, paying $75/month – a fraction of what a traditional college would cost. She wasn’t just attending classes – she was applying what she learned in real time, in the classroom where she already worked.
Reach’s Apprenticeship Degree allowed her to gain practical experience while earning the credentials she needed to move into a full-time math teaching role at Arkansas' Rogers Heritage High School.
Expanding Apprenticeship Degrees to OTHER CARE INDUSTRIES
Torres’s experience highlights a growing shift in how education is delivered, particularly in fields with continued workforce shortages. While Reach University initially pioneered this approach in teacher preparation, Reach's Apprenticeship Degrees are increasingly being applied to other care industries facing similar workforce gaps, such as behavioral health.
Like paraprofessionals in schools, many behavioral health workers start in entry-level roles but struggle to access affordable degree pathways that lead to higher-paying, credentialed positions. The Apprenticeship Degree model removes these barriers by integrating academic learning with paid, on-the-job training.
“It turns out that in health care, there are also paraprofessionals,” said Reach University President Joe E. Ross. “They include peer counselors, case managers, and outreach workers. You’ve got a whole set of occupations that are entry-level, front-line, and typically not paid very well but that are essential to the workings of a health care enterprise.”
The GeNERATIONAL Effect of Apprenticeship Degrees
The power of Reach’s Apprenticeship Degree doesn’t end with each aspiring teacher:
“Torres is doing her part with the high school students she teaches. ‘Being able to tell them my story, how I got started, and how I got to be their teacher today has been very empowering for myself and them. They hear that there are different opportunities out there for them to be successful. There are options for you out there,’ she tells them.”
By redefining what a college education looks like, Apprenticeship Degrees are not only helping working adults like Torres achieve their college and career goals – they are creating new pathways for the next generation to follow.
Read the full feature from Reach's incredible partner, Stand Together:
https://standtogether.org/stories/future-of-work/how-an-apprenticeship-degree-can-help-you-graduate-debt-free
