![A circular flow chart showing external funders, employers, education/training providers, and workers/trainees connected by arrows indicating fund provision and training roles.](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Untitled-design-15.png")
Lessons Learned: Financing Workforce Education and Training through Outcomes-Based Repayments
From the Social Finance Institute
The Social Finance Institute, Papers
Key Takeaway
This paper is a partnership between Harry Holzer, John LaFarge Jr. SJ Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and the Social Finance Institute’s David Socolow.
Overview
In today’s labor market – defined by rapid technological change, persistent worker shortages in key industries, and growing political concern over student debt – there is renewed urgency to find more equitable and sustainable ways to finance skills training in the face of significant gaps in available funding for education and training programs.
In partnership with Professor Harry Holzer, this paper explores the ecosystem of outcomes-based approaches to financing workforce education and training in the US. Building on the economic framework for investment in skills training by workers, employers, and others, the paper analyzes 33 programs in the U.S. and describes key lessons learned for outcomes-based financing to expand workers’ opportunity to earn credentials and create accountability for worker success.
Outcomes-based repayment models offer new ways to finance education and workforce training by tying repayment to participants’ post-training success. Instead of workers or employers paying for training upfront, third parties like governments, philanthropies, or impact investors cover the initial costs. Repayment is required only if trainees achieve outcomes like higher earnings or job retention. However, these initiatives face challenges around repayment compliance, participant understanding, and consumer protection.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
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Harry Holzer | John LaFarge Jr. SJ Professor of Public Policy, McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University; Nonresident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Brookings
Harry J. Holzer is the John LaFarge Jr. SJ Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and a nonresident senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. He previously served as chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor and professor of economics at Michigan State University. Holzer joined the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (now the McCourt School of Public Policy) as Professor of Public Policy in the fall of 2000. He served as associate dean from 2004 through 2006 and was acting dean in the fall of 2006. He is also currently an institute fellow at the American Institutes for Research, a research affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, a research fellow at IZA, and a National Affiliate of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University. He has also been a faculty director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy. He received his BA (1978) and PhD (1983) from Harvard University. |
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David Socolow | Head of Policy, Social Finance Institute
David J. Socolow is Head of Policy at the Social Finance Institute, where he leads initiatives in collaboration with policymakers, researchers, and peer learning communities to build knowledge about outcomes-based policies and practices that expand social and economic mobility. Before joining the Institute in 2024, he spent over 30 years in government and the private sector championing education and workforce success. He most recently led New Jersey’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, where he created the state’s tuition-free college program and expanded career pathways and financing options for jobseekers. Socolow previously served as New Jersey’s Labor Commissioner, as the state’s Unemployment Insurance Director, and in senior roles on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Department of Labor, Pinnacle Foods, Inc., and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). He holds a BA from Harvard College and an MPA from Rutgers University. |
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