Federal money for workforce training begins, but few programs qualify

Congress has opened up federal Pell grants to help pay for short-term workforce training, but many programs are struggling to meet the requirements. Annelise Capossela for NPR hide caption

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a night class at St. Paul College here in Minnesota, students are practicing the nursing skills they'll need to pass the state exam in a few weeks. A few are emptying catheter bags filled with fake urine. Some rehearse using a bedpan — placing it in the right spot, cleaning out the imaginary contents.

It's a Certified Nursing Assistant program, and at the end of the non-credit course, students will be ready for in-demand jobs at long-term care facilities, nursing homes and hospitals.

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A First: Pell Grants For High School Students Who Take College Classes

The class costs more than $1,000, and while most students' tuition is covered by employers looking to train their existing workforce, a few, like Datrina Hurt, 37, pay out of pocket.

" I got my income tax return this year and I figured, I can do a small investment in my life. Why not?" She's a mom of two, currently unemployed. But she has her eye on a $20-an-hour job at a nursing home nearby. "It'll definitely be an upgrade for me and my two boys."

This type of course was exactly what members of Congress were targeting when they opened up federal Pell Grants — free money for low-income students — to help pay for short-term workforce training programs. Part of the One Big Beautiful Bill passed in 2025, it's an expansion of the federal Pell Grant program that colleges have been advocating for for more than a decade, and estimates from the U.S. Department of Education and from the Congressional Budget Office say the benefit could help 100,000 or more students by the fall of 2027.

To qualify, programs must meet length and time parameters (between eight and 14 weeks and between 150 and 599 instructional hours), train for an in-demand field and demonstrate earnings and job placements.

But like thousands of existing workforce training programs, this CNA class at St. Paul college doesn't quite meet those qualifications: It is only 112 hours.

In fact, none of St. Paul College's workforce programs do.

"I think maybe a year ago, I was living in a world where I was like, 'Oh my gosh, July 1 is going to be so great and we're just going to start handing out money to people,'" says Jennifer Huston, the executive director of workforce training at St. Paul College. "Slowly, as we got closer and closer to July 1, you realize, nope, it's going to take us a while to get there."

Reality sets in

All across the country, community colleges are finding many of their workforce training programs are too short or too long or just don't fall within the allotted hours.

"I think the reality that's setting in is that July 1 is not a floodgate. It is a start point of the marathon," says Carrie Warick-Smith, who oversees federal policy at the Association of Community College Trustees.

"There is still a great amount of optimism," she says. "What I have been telling colleges from the beginning is that they should really treat this year as a pilot year."

St. Paul College, for instance, is planning to rejigger its CNA class. Administrators are working to combine it with a Trained Medication Aide certificate program; the newer longer version of the course would meet the requirements to apply for Workforce Pell. It's also planning to start new programs, focused on access and economic mobility, that qualify.

"For students who need to be able to access short-term training that don't have the personal finances to do it on their own, or the employer funding to do, it really helps open the door for access to higher education, at that bite-size level," says Sarah Carrico, who runs academic affairs at St. Paul College.

"So even though right now we don't have any programs that we're going to apply for Workforce Pell, there's hope that we can develop some new programs that will also meet the criteria and meet industry demand and then we can roll those out in the future. "

But the process is long. First, states have to identify which fields or programs they classify as in-demand, high-wage earning or high-skill earning. So far, only 11 states have even published these frameworks on which programs would fit. And the lists differ greatly by state. In Florida, the state identified 31 career certificate programs including phlebotomy, commercial vehicle driving and public-safety roles. In Michigan, the state published a list of 267 occupations that were eligible, leaving it up to the colleges to decide which programs might be the best fit.

In addition to meeting requirements on length, colleges and states need the right data to comply. For many non-degree programs, that can be difficult to track. Often schools or states don't have systems set up to track certificate earners — in some cases they rely on survey data — literally tracking down the graduates and asking them.

Even after programs have been identified, colleges have to formally apply to get state approval and then federal approval.

Some programs poised to qualify

But there are colleges that are ready to start.

About 1,500 miles away from St Paul, North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene has plans to submit Workforce Pell applications for five programs. Its CNA program does qualify; other programs including in Welding and HVAC fit too.

Lloyd Duman, who has been the interim provost at the college for the last four years, sees this expansion as an opportunity for students to take more classes at the college.

"Hopefully our workforce training introduces students into particular programs," he says. "They could come in and get skills, go out into the workforce, maybe decide that they need more skills, come back to the college. This is kind of the beginning of that."

Many other community college officials told NPR the same thing: They hope that a workforce training program might lead to an associate degree maybe someday, even on to a bachelor's degree.

Carrie Warick-Smith, at the Association of Community College Trustees, laughed ruefully when she was asked when that journey — and the free money to start it — might actually begin.

"You have hit on one of the great parlor games of Washington lobbyists right now," she says. "My personal vote is January."

That means for most students, receiving Workforce Pell isn't likely to begin until at least next spring. But Datrina Hurt, the CNA student in St. Paul, says for students like her, that money will be well worth the wait.

Reporting contributed by: Ahmed Hassan of Minnesota Public Radio.

Edited by: Nirvi Shah Visual design and development by: LA Johnson