Financial Aid Administrators will be required to update the ISIR to indicate when an applicant is enrolled in Workforce Pell.
Workforce-aligned Pell programs can support students in career-focused education, including those who already hold a bachelor’s degree. Here are a few key requirements Financial Aid Administrators will need to know.
By Rick Cox
- Programs must be 150-599 clock hours and 8 to 14 weeks.
- It’s unlikely an institution will be able to use Pell Grant Formula 1 for these programs. Most likely, you will need to use Formulas 2, 3 or 4.
- Students with a bachelor’s degree can still qualify for Pell if they are in a Workforce Pell program.
- Every Workforce Pell program must be approved by the U.S. Department of Education before disbursing Title IV.
- Financial Aid Administrators will be required to update the ISIR to indicate the applicant is enrolled in a Workforce Pell program.
- Tuition and fees cannot exceed value-added earnings.
- The regulations will require states to publicly post their timelines on reviewing programs for this purpose.
- For the first two years, the state will be the one that calculates your 70 percent completion and 70 percent placement rates. Institutions may have to provide data to the states for the state to complete these calculations. After these first two years, the institution will calculate these rates and have them attested by their non-federal auditor.
- If an institution is going through recertification and has a Workforce Pell program, the institution must provide an updated certification from the state.
Rick Cox is Global’s Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance.
April 28, 2026
Information subject to change based on the latest guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.