On December 5, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) along with Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) introduced H.R. 6586, the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act. This is a compromise negotiated from bills Rep. Scott and Rep. Foxx introduced earlier this year – the Jobs to Compete Act (H.R. 1655) and the PELL Act (H.R. 496).
This bill would allow Pell Grant funding for short-term postsecondary degree programs with the goal of aligning education opportunities with workforce needs. The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act would also create a quality assurance system for participating degree programs, establish a process for existing and new accreditors to oversee the programs and enforce a guarantee on price alignment.
State workforce boards, accreditors and the Department of Education (ED) would determine whether programs would be eligible for Workforce Pell Grants, including by verifying whether they provide a return on investment for students. Additionally, ED would have to verify that programs maintain both completion rates and job placement rates of at least 70 percent. Short-term programs would also have to show state workforce boards that they provide education for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand occupations.
In a statement, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Foxx said, “America has always been a skills-based economy, so it’s critical that we retool the Pell Grant to match the education needs of both students and employers. The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act achieves this goal by elevating skills-based programs, investing in upskilling, and promoting an education model tailored to workforce needs.”
The financial aid would be conferred in the same way as typical Pell Grants and would also count toward a student’s lifetime eligibility for the regular Pell Grant. Students who have earned a postgraduate degree would not be eligible for short-term Pell Grant.
There are more in-depth summaries of the new bill here and here.
ACTE has long supported short-term Pell proposals, with our primary focus on the bipartisan JOBS Act, and will be examining how this bill fits into moving this critical issue forward!
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