The 30-day public comment period for the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed rule to govern the new Workforce Pell Grant program opened Monday.
Workforce Pell is a major expansion of the Pell Grant program created by Republicans’ massive spending package enacted last summer. It opens the Pell Grant up to eligible workforce programs as short as eight weeks.
“With this proposed rule, we take an important step toward building a stronger postsecondary education system — one where the Federal government invests in short-term, high-quality programs aligned with a State’s workforce needs, creating new affordable pathways to upward mobility for America’s students and their families,” Education Department Under Secretary Nicholas Kent said in a Friday statement.
Under the proposed regulations, governors would have to consult with their respective state workforce boards to approve programs for Workforce Pell. Together, they would determine whether programs prepare students to enroll in a related certificate or degree program, meet employers’ needs and provide training for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand fields.
Programs would also have to meet certain graduation and job placement requirements.
Under the proposal, 70% of a program’s students would have to graduate for it to be eligible for Workforce Pell.
Initially, programs would also have to show a 70% job placement rate to remain eligible. But starting in the 2029-2030 academic year, at least 70% of graduates would have to land a job in the field they trained for or a comparable role for a program to maintain eligibility.
For years, Workforce Pell has had bipartisan support, though Republicans and Democrats have debated about what guardrails to establish.
Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House’s education committee, said in a statement Friday that he supported expanding Pell Grants to short-term training programs despite not supporting the massive legislative overhaul the proposal came packaged in last year.
“Today’s proposed rule has some guardrails, but more needs to be done to ensure students receive adequate instruction and stackable credentials from programs to be successful in the job market,” Scott said. “Moreover, I am concerned that the Trump Administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education will make it virtually impossible to enforce this rule.”
The public comment period closes April 8.
