Trump wants Harvard to build one of its own, as part of a deal to restore frozen federal funding, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “The Harvard Vocational School,” Lutnick said Thursday. “That’s what America needs.” 

It was the latest outing for an idea that’s gained steam in the past month or so. Multiple US colleges are trying to hammer out financial agreements with the White House to settle charges of political bias and regain access to vital research grants. Many are reluctant to pay outright fines. But investment in career and technical training — a stated priority for Trump, who wants to revive US manufacturing — looks like a compromise both sides can abide.

How it will work in practice remains unclear, even at the college that’s gone furthest down this road.

Brown University agreed to spend $50 million over ten years on workforce training in its home state of Rhode Island as part of a settlement. Brown is still figuring out a process for allocating grants, which will go to existing programs and organizations. The college will decide on recipients “in the coming weeks,” said Brian Clark, a spokesperson for Brown. 

As yet, there’s no indication the state’s Democrat-led government will play a role. Rhode Island’s Department of Labor and Training said there’s been no coordination with the college. “Brown will facilitate these grants independent of the Department,” said Edwine Paul, its chief public affairs officer.

‘Everybody in Rhode Island’

When that process gets underway, it’s likely to trigger a stampede of applicants.

Amy Grzybowski calls the Brown settlement “an amazing opportunity” for institutions like hers. She’s vice president of workforce development and community relations at the New England Institute of Technology, a nonprofit private college in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, which develops its curriculum with local employers. Programs for welding and shipfitting, for instance, were set up in partnership with General Dynamics Electric Boat, which makes Navy-class submarines in the state. 

“We have reached out to express interest” in the Brown grants, Grzybowski said. “Along with, I’m sure, everybody in Rhode Island.”

Harvard hasn’t gotten to this stage, and talks on a settlement have dragged in recent weeks. The college has signaled that it’s open to investing $500 million in workforce programs as part of a possible deal to restore more than $2 billion in research grants.

Lutnick’s suggestion for a new vocational school with Harvard’s name attached evokes the prospect of Ivy League-credentialed plumbers and electricians – which may not be as farfetched as it sounds.

Princeton University runs an apprenticeship program, partially funded by the Department of Energy, which offers training in more than a dozen fields including welding and cybersecurity. Harvard itself earlier this year announced a Careers in Construction program of training and apprenticeships in the Boston area. 

Alisha Hyslop, chief policy officer at the Association for Career and Technical Education, said she could envision Harvard’s graduate schools partnering with apprenticeship programs or offering short-term, skills-based credentials.

“There has been a rise in four-year universities embedding industry certifications in their programs, especially in technology, AI, and coding,” she said. “Harvard could easily get involved.” 

Workforce investments didn’t feature in the administration’s settlement with Columbia University, showing these aren’t the only pathways to an agreement. Still, with plenty more schools lined up to seek deals, the idea evidently has appeal for Trump.

The president in April signed an executive order to “refocus young Americans on career preparation.” He’s talked up vocational programs as a cultural and economic foil to elite universities. But he doesn’t seem keen to fund them out of federal coffers.

Trump has proposed eliminating the Labor Department’s $200 million annual budget for supporting adult education at community colleges, much of which funds vocational and skills-based programs. The department has also halted its Job Corps program, effectively shutting down 99 career training centers nationwide.

Instead, the president hasn’t been shy about wanting elite colleges to foot the bill. He wrote on Truth Social in May that he was considering slashing $3 billion in funding from Harvard and giving it to trade schools.

It’s “the Robin Hood approach,” according to Kathleen deLaski, founder of the vocationally focused Education Design Lab and a senior adviser at Harvard’s Project on Workforce. 

DeLaski said she and her team proposed a similar initiative over a decade ago, called “Share the Wealth,” which didn’t get much traction with Harvard and its peers. She doesn’t support the Trump administration’s broadside against Harvard. But “if they are going to extract a pound of flesh from wealthy colleges, I’d rather have it earmarked for less-resourced parts of higher ed than be a tax going back to the national coffers,” she said.

‘Extorting Money’

Trump isn’t the first president who’s sought to bolster technical education and fill gaps in the labor force. It was a priority for Joe Biden too. Supply chain disruptions in the pandemic, and trade tensions with China, have persuaded Washington that key industries should be brought back home – and they’ll need skilled workers.

Given the economic importance, some analysts say it’s the government that should be providing cash and making key decisions.

“I don’t think extorting money from Ivy League institutions is any way to finance workforce development,” said Braden Goetz, senior policy adviser at the New America think tank. “If it’s publicly funded, taxpayers and policymakers have a say in how it’s used. If we’re relying on Harvard or Brown to decide how to spend it, it may not be in the best interest of the people.”

Wherever the money ultimately comes from, a shift toward vocational funding and away from the traditional college model is what the US economy needs, according to Nick Moore — effectively the country’s top policymaker in the field, as deputy assistant secretary at the Education Department’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education.

Moore, who attended Harvard as an undergraduate, said he doesn’t view a potential redistribution of wealth from his alma mater to vocational programs as a punishment so much as a corrective. He hopes to see similar shifts across the sector.

“Our current workforce system is not sufficient to meet our economic trajectory,” he said. “And there is probably no industry that is more removed from market dynamics than higher education.”