Stacia Edwards and Daniel Serota on Successful Degree Apprenticeships

What does it take to build, operate, and scale a successful degree apprenticeship program? How can higher education institutions and employers collaborate to drive student retention, mobility, and career growth? We talk through these with Stacia Edwards the Deputy Provost at City Colleges of Chicago and Daniel Serota the Vice President of Government Affairs at Aon. Together, they outline actionable strategies for managing curriculum, providing wraparound support, solving the early-career experience catch-22, and scaling regional employer networks to future-proof the workforce in the age of AI. Episode Highlights include: [4:16] Sector-Based Campus Alignment - City Colleges of Chicago organizes specialized programs across campuses so regional employers have a single clear entry point. [7:01] Solving Corporate Early-Career Retention - Aon introduced degree apprenticeships to overcome high turnover in entry-level roles while building local talent pipelines. [12:45] The Earn-and-Learn Funding Model - Employer partners fund full tuition, books, and salary, offering a direct path to full-time employment upon graduation. [18:01] Centralizing Partnerships with an Apprenticeship Office - Creating an internal hub acts as an "easy button" to handle scheduling, curriculum updates, and student support. [26:27] Scaling via the Four-Pillar Moonshot - City Colleges of Chicago targets 1,000 annual apprentices by expanding pre-apprenticeships, recruitment, and employer-of-record models. References: 1. Daniel’s Op-ed “Apprenticeship is the future of work, even in an AI economy” https://www.chicagobusiness.com/elevate/ccb-apprenticeship-value-ai-economy-20260511/ 2. Chicago Apprenticeship Network “Starter Guide” https://www.chicagoapprenticenetwork.org/assets/membersAndPartners/Apprenticeship%20Starter%20Guide.pdf 3. Elliot Op-Ed with Dana Stephenson from Riipen on “Internship bottleneck: How to break the work experience Catch-22” https://universitybusiness.com/internship-bottleneck-how-to-break-the-work-experience-catch-22/