# Plain Language Summary: New Collar Jobs Act of 2025

This bill is designed to boost cybersecurity jobs and training by offering financial incentives to companies and individuals. The core idea is that modern factories and businesses increasingly need cybersecurity experts to protect their systems from hackers, but there aren't enough trained workers available. The bill tackles this shortage through several different approaches.

The main tool is a tax credit for companies that train their employees in cybersecurity. If a company pays for an employee to earn a cybersecurity degree or industry certification, the company gets a tax credit worth 50 percent of what they spent—up to $5,000 per employee per year. This directly reduces what companies owe in taxes, making it cheaper for them to invest in training their workforce. The bill also helps individual workers by allowing up to $25,000 in federal student loan forgiveness for people who work in cybersecurity jobs in economically struggling areas for at least three years. This is meant to attract skilled workers to regions that need them most.

On the education side, the bill expands scholarship programs for cybersecurity students. It calls for doubling the number of scholarships available through the federal CyberCorps program and increasing funding for community college cybersecurity training programs. The bill also adds a new incentive for government contractors: companies that invest in employee cybersecurity training get a 5 percent scoring boost when bidding on federal contracts worth over $5 million. This gives companies a competitive advantage in winning government work if they're serious about training their workforce. Overall, the bill uses tax breaks, loan forgiveness, scholarships, and contract incentives to encourage both employers and workers to pursue cybersecurity careers.