Secretary McMahon Delivers “The Next 250: Workforce Education” Remarks at the College of Southern Nevada

Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon delivered remarks at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada, to highlight the Trump Administration's unprecedented progress in expanding workforce pathways and preparing Americans for in-demand careers.

Below is her speech, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Governor Lombardo, for your gracious introduction.

Hello, College of Southern Nevada!

I'd like to recognize the exceptional automotive students standing with me today. Millions of Americans every day get behind the wheel to go to work, drop their children off at school, and keep their lives moving. Behind that daily reliability is the skill and dedication of the men and women like you in this room!

America needs 70,000 new auto technicians every year. Yet instead of building up the skilled trades, we've spent far too long telling students that the only path to opportunity is a four-year college degree.

Washington has measured success by college enrollment and the number of diplomas awarded, even as students took on enormous debt, workers struggled to access affordable training, and employers were left without the qualified individuals they urgently need.

Thanks to President Trump, the era of neglecting American workers is over.

Every American willing to learn, work hard, and pursue a brighter future should know that - for the first time in decades - America's opportunities are finally catching up to your talent and rising to meet your ambitions.

Today, in our nation's 250th year, we are celebrating the beginning of the Golden Age of postsecondary education - one that recognizes that there is more than one path to success and more than one way to achieve the American Dream.

America has always drawn its strength from a belief that every God-given talent has a place, every honest calling carries dignity, and every person can contribute to the strength of our nation.

That tradition reaches back to our earliest days, when the architects of our republic were also masters of practical trades. Before he helped secure our independence, Benjamin Franklin mastered printing - the typesetting, pressing, and craftsmanship that built his livelihood and, ultimately, his influence. Because he possessed those skills, he could build a newspaper empire and carry the arguments for liberty across the colonies - showing how practical talent, put to honest purpose, can strengthen a free people.

And in the modern world, some of America's most transformative innovators, from Steve Jobs to Walt Disney to Mark Zuckerberg, never completed a traditional college education. They understood that momentous achievements do not depend on a single educational path, but are born from practical skill, relentless effort, and the courage to turn ideas into reality.

For generations, that understanding helped America not only become an economic and geopolitical powerhouse, but also the most innovative, productive, and upwardly mobile society the world has ever seen.

All the while, colleges themselves drifted further from their core missions of preparing students for good jobs and meaningful lives, treating students like blank checks to justify endless tuition and fee increases.

Today, a staggering 23 percent of bachelor's degrees and 43 percent of master's degrees leave graduates worse off than if they had never enrolled.

At the same time, our education system neglected the skilled professions every community relies on, leaving the nation without enough people to build, repair, and maintain the systems of daily life.

Today, for every five skilled tradespeople who retire in our country, only two replace them, putting our nation on track for a shortfall of 2.1 million manufacturing workers by 2030. In auto manufacturing, our competitors produce more than three vehicles for every one made here in the United States.

The good news is that we do not lack the talent to meet this challenge. It is already present in our classrooms, workplaces, and especially right here in this room. What has been missing is an education and financial aid system willing to recognize the full range of that talent and give Americans the means to develop it.

President Trump has bridged that gap.

Thanks to his leadership, this Administration has achieved the most significant reformation of postsecondary education in half a century. Students are stepping into a future with more choices, lower costs, and a culture that finally recognizes that opportunity comes in many forms - and that every calling deserves its place and respect.

And, for the first time in a generation, America is telling its people the truth: you do not need the most elite degree to be successful. You need pathways that deliver real value and real opportunity.

This restoration is rooted in three common-sense principles.

First, every American must have access to options that fit their unique strengths and goals.

College may be the right path for some, but America's workforce has never been built on a single track. It has been built by people who developed their talents in classrooms and workshops, on campuses and job sites, through apprenticeships, community colleges, and hands-on experience. Our task is to ensure that each of those pathways is within reach for every American wanting to pursue it.

Thanks to President Trump, Washington, DC, is no longer limiting federal student aid to traditional two and four-year degrees. With the brand-new Workforce Pell Program, for the first time ever, Pell Grant dollars can be used by low and middle-income students to fast-track into high-quality workforce training in as little as eight weeks.

Now, American learners across the country can access dozens of approved programs that prepare them for critical, in-demand careers- like welding, plumbing, and EMT programs - without spending years in unnecessary coursework or taking on unmanageable student loan debt.

For a working parent who cannot spare years to pursue training, that means earning a recognized credential, securing family-sustaining wages, and building a more stable future in a fraction of the time.

And because Workforce Pell programs must align with state-designated, in-demand fields, they help rebuild industry from the ground up - ensuring students learn exactly what employers need.

This is a game-changer for postsecondary education. Instead of Washington dictating which skills matter, we are empowering states and communities to better align education with the workforce. Governors and state workforce boards will help direct federal support toward the actual workforce needs of their communities, ensuring federal dollars serve workers and employers, not just institutions.

When education is aligned with the jobs employers are actually looking to fill, the results are extraordinary. The median estimated return on investment for technical-trade certificate programs is $313,000 - nearly twice the estimated return for the median bachelor's degree.

No wonder a recent analysis found that 60% of Gen Z Americans plan to pursue skilled trade work this year - up from just 40% one year ago.

Americans are flocking to workforce training - and thanks to President Trump, it is ready to meet them.

Second, we are building a future where Americans' actual skills can be recognized and credentialed based on performance, not on where they went to school.

If a veteran learns diesel engine repair in the Army, or a mechanic masters welding on the job, they shouldn't have to spend years and thousands of dollars on a degree just to prove what they already know! They should be able to demonstrate the skill, earn the credential, and connect with employers who need them.

The Trump Administration is making this vision real.

Through the Connecting Talent to Opportunity Challenge, we are devoting $15 million to help states develop technology that transitions the way we evaluate workers from a degrees-based system to a skills-based system.

We are working side-by-side with states as they design online talent marketplaces that connect workers, employers, and industry-recognized credentials. This includes building assessments that provide a way for individuals to earn credentials by proving what they can do in practice.

For workers, this will mean employers see all of your skills, not just your degrees.

For employers, this will mean seeing all of a person's abilities, not just those that are captured by academic transcripts.

This work is forging a future with many roads to advancement - one where opportunity depends on what Americans can contribute, not on the institutions that once claimed the power to gatekeep their success.

That is what the Golden Age of the American workforce looks like!

Finally, the Trump Administration believes that education and workforce training shouldn't live on parallel tracks - they must run together, building momentum for every learner.

This is why we are bringing education to the workforce table to bolster America's talent strategy.

At President Trump's direction, we are working hand-in-hand with the Department of Labor to streamline career and technical education programs and help provide seamless pathways to registered apprenticeships, workforce training, and employment.

This year alone, the Department of Labor has awarded nearly $162 million to expand Registered Apprenticeships in industries central to America's economic and industrial strength.

At the Department of Education, we have intentionally developed new grant priorities to ensure that Registered Apprenticeships can be supported with federal education dollars, reinforcing our commitment to the principle that a good-paying job does not have to flow exclusively through a traditional two- or four-year degree.

We are accelerating toward President Trump's goal of reaching more than one million Registered Apprentices and reviving the industries that power the United States of America!

And for community colleges like the College of Southern Nevada, the Trump Administration has devoted more than two and a half times as much annual funding as the Biden Administration provided, investing over $100 million in Fiscal Year 2026 in these institutions that open doors to careers, economic mobility, and the American Dream!

Together, these reforms advance President Trump's historic reset of postsecondary education, rooted in one simple principle: American education should serve the American people.

It is a future where postsecondary education lifts students up rather than weighing them down - one that frees them from debt and unleashes upward mobility.

America's next 250 years will not be built by one kind of worker, one kind of learner, or one kind of mind.

They will be built by welders and engineers, teachers and technicians, entrepreneurs and farmers, doctors and mechanics, researchers and tradesmen. And they all deserve our appreciation.