An expanded federal grant program kicked off this summer, aiming to help low-income Americans pay for some job training courses. But a month after Workforce Pell’s official launch, Ohio hasn’t yet approved any programs for residents to enroll in.
A handful of higher education institutions submitted nine programs to the state as of mid-July. Those offerings spanned fields such as truck driving, firefighting and emergency medical technicians (EMTs).
The Ohio Department of Higher Education marked six applications as incomplete, according to data the department provided to Signal Statewide. It rejected three others.
Ohio isn’t alone. From Texas to Indiana to North Carolina, community colleges have submitted few programs, and many don’t yet qualify under Workforce Pell’s strict requirements.
This slow rollout isn’t necessarily a surprise. Many higher education watchers didn’t anticipate a huge influx of programs getting off the ground immediately, thanks in part to the high eligibility benchmarks set by federal lawmakers as well as the tight timeframe last summer’s federal budget bill mandated for the expansion.
One expert recently told Inside Higher Ed many states are viewing this time as a “soft start” for Workforce Pell. Higher education officials in Ohio seem to agree.
The ODHE said institutions are still “evaluating their internal capacity to administer Workforce Pell and the extent to which their specific programs are aligned to the federal eligibility requirements.”
Institutions are expected to “continue taking a deliberate approach,” officials added.
Though many of Ohio’s community colleges championed Workforce Pell’s arrival, few have publicly shared what programs they’re looking to advance or how they’re navigating the application process. Several institutions declined interview requests from Signal Statewide on the topic.
What are Workforce Pell’s eligibility requirements?
Expanding the Pell Grant is a big deal. In the past, students receiving these funds – which are reserved for those with the biggest financial needs and don’t need to be paid back – could only put the money towards longer academic programs.
Advocates long pushed for widening these grants to go towards more skills-based programs designed to get students quickly into a career. The move was finally granted in last summer’s federal budget bill.
The law required Workforce Pell to officially begin July 1. As the bulk of Workforce Pell’s approval process falls to state education and workforce departments, many sprinted to create procedures by this summer.
It resulted in different approaches. Ohio’s higher education department opened up its own application process in mid-May – “well ahead of most states,” ODHE officials said.
Since then, five institutions have submitted documents to the state. Those submissions came from three of Ohio’s 22 two-year public colleges: Stark State College, Sinclair Community College and Edison State Community College.
Butler Tech and Career College and the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County rounded out the applicant list.
A tracker produced by the state’s higher education department and provided to Signal Statewide doesn’t specifically note what each of those nine applications may have been missing or what specific benchmark it didn’t hit.
There is no shortage of those. Programs must meet a whole slate of federal eligibility requirements, including having 70% completion and job placement rates. Courses must run between eight and 14 weeks and be offered for at least one year. Programs need to align with an occupation appearing on the state’s “top jobs” list.
It’s a lot – at least seven steps, according to a flow chart state officials created for schools to review before applying.
That website also offers materials for institutions to appeal a decision. State officials said the department is “always willing to review additional information” an institution wants to submit.
What comes next for Workforce Pell
Even once the state signs off on a program’s eligibility, the journey isn’t over. The federal government must give its official stamp of approval, too, which may add additional time.
Federal policymakers intentionally set high standards around Workforce Pell. It represents the Trump Administration’s shift from “high-cost, low-value programs to low-cost, high-value programs,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a May news release.
The federal projections of how many students may receive – and use – the grants don’t even begin until the 2027-28 school year.
By then, an estimated 184,000 recipients nationwide are slated to get the awards, rising incrementally each year to a high of 191,000 students by 2035.
This story originally appeared at signalohio.com.