The National Apprentice Fund, Supported by Google.org

The Fund’s Reach

All NAF recipients were awarded their one-time funds in the summer of 2025 and were able to use the money immediately to offset any expenses that created barriers. Since the funds were awarded, JFF has been conducting research to understand the impact of the fund.

The data snapshots below illustrate the fund’s reach:

This interactive map offers a look at where apprentices are located and the industries they’re in.

Recipients were working in a wide range of industries, with health care, construction, and education among the most well-represented.

The NAF reached apprentices across a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds, with no single group comprising a majority of those funded.

The majority of recipients identified as women, though the NAF reached apprentices across a range of gender identities.

The Fund’s Impact Thus Far

Early findings from data recipients provided when they applied for funding, their responses to a follow-up survey, and their comments in interviews indicate that the NAF is having a positive impact on many apprentices’ career and education journeys.

Outlined below are themes that are rising to the top from the NAF outcomes study that JFF is currently conducting.

The NAF is helping apprentices work toward program completion.

For many recipients, the NAF arrived when they were at a turning point—when financial pressure had begun to threaten their ability to stay enrolled. Recipients consistently describe the award as the difference between pushing through and stepping away.

For many recipients who were still actively enrolled in their apprenticeships at the time of the follow-up survey and interviews, the NAF’s impact on their ability to stay in their programs was striking.

More than six in 10 rated the funding as critical to their ability to stay enrolled, and nearly nine in 10 reported it had at least some effect on their persistence.

Both of those statistics are strong indicators that financial relief translates directly into stronger conditions for completion. For apprentices already navigating financial hardships, the fund isn’t a supplement—it’s a lifeline.

The NAF is supporting apprentices facing multiple overlapping financial challenges.

Insights from NAF recipients showed that financial hardships rarely come alone: Most reported struggling to pay multiple essential expenses at the same time. Paying for housing, food, and transportation were the most commonly reported difficulties, and they nearly always appeared together: Recipients facing one of these challenges were very likely to be facing all three.

This graphic illustrates that it’s common for multiple financial challenges to overlap.

As apprentices balance these complex challenges, even modest expenses can disrupt progress and retention, highlighting the importance of monetary support that helps apprentices remain enrolled and continue toward completion.

The NAF helped alleviate these financial challenges: 95.8% of recipients reported that they were able to address the needs they identified in their original applications.

The NAF is offsetting early-to-mid apprenticeship lower wages.

Although apprentices earn wages while learning on the job, starting wages in apprenticeship programs are normally lower than those earned by fully trained workers in the same occupation. Depending on the length of the apprenticeship program, these lower wages can last from months to years and can make it difficult for apprentices to manage everyday expenses. When apprentices take on a second job to fill the gap, it comes at a cost: less time to study, more fatigue, and greater risk of not completing their apprenticeship program.

In some cases, entering an apprenticeship often means accepting a significant pay cut—a financial reality that hits hardest in the early stages of training. For recipients already managing housing, groceries, child care, and other bills, reduced wages don’t just create discomfort; they create a structural barrier to completion. And if hours decline seasonally, that pressure intensifies.

As one apprentice noted, “I took a big pay cut to do this apprenticeship, and the bills have been much harder to pay.” The NAF helped bridge that gap, keeping financial hardship from becoming the reason an otherwise committed apprentice had to walk away.

The funds also help address non-financial barriers.

Recipients have said that the benefits of the NAF have extended beyond financial relief. They frequently cited easing of mental health concerns as an additional benefit.

Mental health strain is a hidden but significant threat to apprentice completion. Many recipients described feeling overwhelmed by the competing demands of on-the-job training, technical instruction, and outside responsibilities—burdens that, left unaddressed, can impair people’s ability to function and ultimately push them to consider leaving their programs altogether. For apprentices in high-demand fields like construction and health care, this strain is especially acute.

According to recipients’ comments in interviews and information they provided in the survey, the funds helped reduce acute stress and prevent crisis exits. Apprentices describe using the money they received to avoid eviction, repair vehicles required for work, renew licenses, or purchase required tools, and several said they likely would have left their programs without the support.

Access to mentorship is just as important as access to financial resources.

Recipients consistently point to support from mentors, counselors, and cohort peers as critical to their ability to persist through difficult stretches. Human connection helps apprentices build the resilience that keeps them on track when challenges arise, making mentorship not just a complement to financial assistance but an essential component of completion in its own right.

Measuring Outcomes

In the NAF outcomes study, JFF is using a mixed-methods approach to assess the fund’s contribution to apprentice persistence, completion, and overall program outcomes. The study is guided by five core research questions examining the financial and non-financial barriers apprentices face, how financial support influences retention and satisfaction, and what outcomes—including job placement, wage gains, and credential attainment—recipients achieve.

Recipients of NAF awards are encouraged to make reasonable efforts to complete their training. Recipients may also participate in the NAF program evaluation, complete surveys, participate in focus groups, and offer other forms of feedback to help JFF assess the NAF’s impact and help improve future iterations of the program.

Data is collected directly from NAF applicants and recipients through three sources: the fund application, a follow-up survey, and recipient interviews. Data collection occurs within a one-year window, with analysis conducted on a rolling basis.

• Quantitative analysis draws from application and survey data to track apprenticeship continuation and completion rates, demographic patterns, and program outcomes across different industries and populations.
• Qualitative analysis draws on semi-structured interviews and open-ended survey responses to capture the lived experiences of apprentices receiving support. These interviews explore how financial assistance affected apprentices’ ability to remain in their programs, the types of financial pressures they were managing, and whether additional wraparound supports such as mentorship or peer support shaped their experiences.

Findings from both qualitative and quantitative analyses will be synthesized in a final report, which will be grounded in existing research and will provide recommendations for future fund iterations.