Workforce Pell Negotiated Rulemaking: Day 2 Recap
As negotiators push toward consensus, they must fortify Workforce Pell oversight, data and approval standards, & student protections. Otherwise, it will be a waste for students, taxpayers, & states.
Welcome back! Day 2 of Workforce Pell negotiated rulemaking brought more clarity, starting with a batch of regulatory text changes presented by the Department of Education on December 9. The changes related to Workforce Pell were mostly technical changes to clarify language.
Today’s update breaks down what happened in the room and what it all means for states and institutions preparing for Workforce Pell.
Let’s dive in.
What Happened in the Room on Day 2
Let’s walk through the highlights.
How Many Programs Will Qualify? Fewer Than You Think (Maybe?)
ED opened with a data presentation estimating that only “several hundred to a few thousand” programs nationwide might qualify. That uncertainty comes from one big reason: Federal data doesn’t include many 8–15 week, noncredit, or clock-hour workforce programs with the exception of some that are eligible for the short-term loan program. Some of the most common short-term programs include EMT, CNA, CDL, medical assistant, and welding, but few existing datasets can confirm all of the required information, such as whether these programs articulate to a longer credential.
Summary of the Value-Added Earnings (VAE) Presentation
ED walked negotiators through the proposed Value-Added Earnings (VAE) test, the statutory requirement designed to ensure that Workforce Pell programs produce economic value that exceeds their cost. VAE compares the earnings gains attributable to the program with the tuition and fees charged, using federal earnings records.
Under the proposed framework, VAE is calculated using a standardized formula:
(Median earnings of completers three years after exit – 150% of the Federal Poverty Level) - Published Tuition and Fees
(I wrote a little about how this might look in practice here.)
If a program’s value-added earnings are less than its tuition and fees, it fails. ED explained that the benchmark adjusts for demographic and labor-market characteristics to account for differences in students’ backgrounds and local economic conditions. For privacy and statistical reliability reasons, ED will only run the VAE calculation for programs with at least 50 Pell-recipient completers across up to four award years.
Governor Approval: More Complex Than Some Expected
Negotiators pressed ED on many questions, especially:
How should states align Workforce Pell with WIOA, Perkins, ETPL, and existing high-wage lists?
Can governors delegate approval authority?
How will ED and DOL ensure consistent definitions of “high-skill” and “in-demand”?
ED signaled openness but emphasized that Workforce Pell’s statutory requirements are distinct from WIOA.
One thing was clear: While some states are happy to see the potential influx of new federal dollars, standing up a Governor-led approval process for the first time states have been delegated this role is burdensome, costly and what many see as an unfunded mandate.
Registered Apprenticeships: ED Really Wants Them In
Negotiators spent a decent amount of time on Registered Apprenticeships. The Department is clearly working to ensure Registered Apprenticeships can benefit from Workforce Pell. I’m working on a piece that I hope to publish in the next day or two that will dive deeper into this, given what we know about where the regulations might end up and what that means for programs.
Completion, Job Placement, and VAE: Many Questions, Few Answers (Yet)
Negotiators raised concerns about:
How states will calculate job placement in specific occupations because many states lack occupation data, such as SOC codes;
Why ED proposed that states calculate completion rates rather than ED;
Whether students who continue into additional education count as “placed” or should be excluded from the job placement calculation; and
How cross-state wage records will be matched.
ED acknowledged the challenges and invited proposals, especially around exceptions for students with military or medical leave.
Day 2 confirmed that Workforce Pell implementation is a big lift. There is still much left to discuss, including accreditation, distance education, and more.
Tomorrow, the committee is expected to turn to more text refinements based on the feedback today and proposals from the negotiators, additional accountability issues, and continued debate on other provisions.
More soon!