Pell Grant Changes 2026: Workforce Planning and What’s Next
Pell Grants, which provide federal financial aid to low-income college students, are getting a big boost this year. A new grant program called Workforce Pell — included in a major spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last summer — will open in 2026 to students pursuing part-time job training programs.
But a raft of rules meant to protect students and taxpayers, combined with an accelerated implementation timeline, could mean fewer training courses are approved for the 2026–2027 academic year. Although the policies have yet to be finalized, the draft regulations represent a major push for both states and institutions to ensure that studies are eligible for funding.
It will probably take years for the Workforce Pell Grant program to fully mature, says Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, director of research at the National Skills Foundation: “It’s not going to be this big sea change, you know, as soon as the clock strikes midnight in July.”
But, he adds, this could be a big change in how the federal government supports job training. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2034, about 100,000 students a year could receive Workforce Pell Grants, worth about $300 million.
Here’s what you need to know about the start of Workforce Pell, and other Pell Grant changes coming in 2026.
Pell Grants will soon be available to pay for (some) part-time training programs
Workforce Pell aims to help low-income and low-income Americans afford the upfront costs of the certifications needed to find a good-paying job. (Until now, Pell Grants have been largely restricted to graduate students.)
A student must not only be eligible for a Pell Grant based on their finances, but must also be attending a training program approved by the grant. To be eligible, programs must train people for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand jobs, provide a high level of education and be accepted by many employers.
Programs also need to demonstrate a 70% graduation rate and employment rate, as well as satisfy an income test that compares the cost of the program to the wages of graduates.
Those requirements are intended to build trust in temporary programs and help ensure that programs that receive federal funding will lead to “good jobs, family-friendly wages and in-demand fields,” Reichlin Cruse said.
Ben Cecil, associate director of higher education at Third Way, says the draft rules have some merit, but he would like more avenues to protect students. A completion rate of 70%, in his opinion, seems insufficient when these programs are, at least, three and a half months long.
“There is a lot we don’t know about the financial benefits that students will get in the job market by following the temporary program,” he said.
What types of programs will be eligible for Workforce Pell
Few community college programs currently exist that meet all requirements, according to the Community College Research Center. Reporting from Work Shift, a news agency focused on education and training, suggests that for-profit colleges and four-year institutions with continuing education and professional development courses may be in a better position to be accredited this year.
However, in the end there may be several hundred to thousands of programs that will be eligible, according to a document from the Department of Education. Programs that may be more suitable include those designed for healthcare roles such as phlebotomy and EMT training, child care details and technical fields such as welding and mechanics.
There’s also an open question about whether states have the ability to track all the different pieces the state will need to get programs funded, Cecil said. Some states and college programs have invested in formalizing data collection for undergraduate programs, but others will need to build a data infrastructure from scratch.
On the bright side, a byproduct of the efforts involved in gathering that data will hopefully be transparent information about costs and fees, Reichlin Cruse said. This can help students make informed decisions.
Right now, there’s no central place to easily look up that kind of information about the details out there – and what’s available isn’t very user-friendly, he says.
What you need to know if you are interested in using the Workforce Pell Grant
Awards for these programs will be divided based on the length of the course, meaning that students will not receive the $7,395 Pell Grant limit even if they have great financial need. A 300-hour program spanning 10 weeks, for example, can result in an award of between $1,800 and $2,500, according to UPCEA, an online education and career association.
This grant is considered “last dollar,” Reichlin Cruse said, meaning that if you have other scholarships, they will cover the cost first, and you will only be eligible for a grant if there is a gap left. Students should also keep in mind that using Pell dollars in these programs counts toward their lifetime Pell limit (currently set at 12 semesters of funding).
It is difficult to say how much of the program’s tuition the grants will actually cover, as costs vary greatly by concentration, location and type of school.
For example, phlebotomy training programs at community colleges typically cost a student between $1,000 and $2,500 for tuition, supplies and licensing fees. A commercial driver’s license program — another example given by Education Department officials as a program that would be a good fit for Workforce Pell — can cost between $4,000 and $12,000, according to Schneider, who provides long-haul and regional trucking services.
Still, “any support for people who wouldn’t traditionally get financial support is a step in the right direction,” Reichlin Cruse said. “We’re going from zero to something.”
Even if the program qualifies for Workforce Pell, students still have to do their own thing to make sure it delivers the results they want, Cecil said.
More Pell Grant changes are coming in 2026
Workforce Pell is the change getting the most attention this year, but there are others that are “small but impactful,” said Jill Desjean, director of policy analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
Families with small businesses and farms may qualify for additional assistance
The FAFSA Simplification Act, a law passed in 2020 that overhauled the financial aid form, required families with small businesses or family farms to begin reporting those assets. Before that, those assets were exempt, meaning they didn’t count against your Pell Grant eligibility.
It was a temporary policy change. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act restored that exemption, so that students whose families own a business with fewer than 100 employees, a family farm or a family-owned fishery may qualify for a larger Pell Grant than last year since those assets no longer count toward their aid calculation.
Strict rules limit awards to high-net-worth families
The FAFSA Streamlining Act also changed the way eligibility for Pell Grants was determined. Instead of the complicated formula used in the past, eligibility is now based on your income and family size relative to the federal poverty level.
But that flexibility creates a gap where some wealthy families – with low incomes but significant assets – qualify for the grant.
“Obviously that is not the purpose of the program,” said Desjean.
The loophole is closed on the 2026-2027 FAFSA.
Students with full-ride scholarships are no longer eligible for Pell Grants
Students who receive scholarships from schools, states or outside organizations that cover their full cost of attending school will no longer be able to receive a Pell Grant on top of their award.
Very few people qualify for a true full-ride scholarship or put together enough awards to be affected, Desjean says, noting that it would mostly affect student-athletes who were Pell-eligible. The change takes effect in the 2026-2027 academic year.
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