ED releases final rules on Workforce Pell
The Education Department (ED) on Monday released final rules to implement new Workforce Pell Grant eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), also called the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. As covered in the Community College Daily, the department was persuaded to make several changes from the proposed rules but held firm on some areas of concern for community colleges.
OBBBA enacted new Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled in short-term workforce programs in in-demand fields that meet certain outcomes, including program completion, job placement, and earnings relative to the cost of the program. Because OBBBA was a piece of reconciliation legislation, it had few details on implementation and other non-spending elements of the proposal. In December, ED convened a negotiated rulemaking committee to consider how to implement Workforce Pell grants, and that body ultimately reached consensus. The department then published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) based on that consensus language, and stakeholders, including the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), provided feedback to inform this week’s final rule.
In our review of the final regulations, AACC is pleased to see a significant change based on our comments. In calculating “value-added earnings,” the department opted to exclude program completers who were still enrolled in subsequent educational programs from the calculation of earnings for the program. ED declined to similarly exclude still-enrolled students from program completer cohorts for the purpose of calculating job placement rates.
To our disappointment, ED rejected AACC’s other top asks. ED’s unilateral decision to require job placement be “placement in field” remains in the final rules, as does ED’s interpretation that programs be required to have been in existence and have met all eligibility criteria for one year before gaining eligibility. AACC and others argued that these proposals overstepped the statute.
The final rules for Workforce Pell will go into effect on July 1. However, ED officials have urged stakeholders to view this date as a starting gun rather than any sort of deadline. Workforce Pell is a permanent authorization, meaning that colleges are free to take the time they need to analyze the final rules, identify potentially eligible programs, work with their states to set up processes, and pilot a small number of programs at a time.
While we expect readiness and eligibility timelines to vary significantly by state and by institution, we strongly encourage AACC member colleges to provide updates to AACC’s government relations office. Throughout the final rule, the department pledged to deliver subregulatory guidance to help inform implementation in different use cases and scenarios. By communicating implementation questions and concerns to your team here in D.C., we can elevate them to department officials and push for more clarity through official guidance and resources.
AACC submits comments on new earnings accountability scheme
AACC filed comments on Wednesday responding to ED’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the new Student Tuition and Transparency System and Earnings Accountability (STATS) framework, set to go into effect on July 1.
ED convened a negotiated rulemaking committee in January to consider OBBBA’s new accountability system to measure the earnings of program completers against a comparison group of high school graduates (the STATS standard). The group also considered changes to existing Gainful Employment/Financial Value Transparency regulations. The committee reached consensus, with all but one member affirmatively approving the regulations. Because the committee reached consensus, ED was bound to use the version of the draft regulations agreed to by the committee in its NPRM.
The draft regulations proposed language to “harmonize” the new accountability system applied to all degree programs with the existing Gainful Employment (GE) regulations, currently applied to certificate programs and programs offered by proprietary institutions. Consistent with the consensus text, the NPRM proposes eliminating the existing debt-to-earnings (D/E) standard currently applied to GE programs and subjecting all degree and certificate programs at all institutions solely to OBBBA’s “Do No Harm” earnings test.
Like in the consensus language, the NPRM proposes that if a program fails the earnings test for two out of any three consecutive years, the institution cannot offer loans for the impacted program. Programs currently subject to GE lose all Title IV eligibility if they fail the current D/E or earnings premium measures.
New standards of administrative capability were added during negotiations to limit all Title IV eligibility for institutions where more than 50% of the programs fail the earnings test or 50% of the students are enrolled in failing programs. As covered in the Community College Daily, AACC’s comments strongly object to the new administrative capability language. While few community colleges are likely to face the loss of Title IV eligibility under this sanction, the association argues that this added measure exceeds statutory authority.
AACC also urges ED to compare certificate program earnings to the earnings of high school diploma completers aged 18 to 22, rather than 25 to 34.
Finally, AACC’s comments urge ED to scale back its proposed process for building program cohorts of at least 30 program completers to calculate median earnings. In the proposed rules, a cohort would start with the program, and, if necessary, add up to four earlier years of completers. If this still does not generate at least 30 completers, completers of other programs with the same four-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes would be added. If this still does not generate 30 completers, the cohort would be expanded to completers of programs with the same two-digit CIP code. AACC feels that this last step is too far.
Negotiators reach consensus on proposed accreditation reforms
The second and final meeting of the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) negotiated rulemaking committee ended with consensus on Thursday afternoon. Monty Sullivan, former president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS), is representing public institutions of higher education on the committee, with Luciano DeCastro from the University of Iowa serving as the alternate. Because consensus was reached on the negotiated language, ED is bound to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that aligns with the agreed-upon text.
As covered in the Community College Daily, the draft regulations substantially revise requirements for federally-recognized accreditors, including new standards of student achievement, new procedures around intellectual diversity and free speech, new requirements around monitoring institutional expenditures and cost-benefit analyses, new faculty evaluation requirements, and new requirements around the acceptance of transfer credit.
DOL launches new SIP competition
The Department of Labor (DOL), on behalf of ED, released the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 26) grant application for the Higher Education Act Title III-A Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). As a reminder, SIP awards institutional aid to colleges and universities who meet certain eligibility criteria around student need and institutional expenditures. Community colleges are encouraged to compete, with applications due on June 23.
As covered in the Community College Daily, this year’s competition differs from years prior. For FY 26, ED/DOL have chosen to reallocate funding from Title III and V Minority-Serving Institutions programs (which the Trump administration have deemed unconstitutional) into a “Super SIP” competition. As a result, the program will disburse $366 million in new awards, far more than the $102 million appropriated just for SIP.
For the competition itself, ED/DOL will be newly prioritizing workforce-focused grant applications, including those that promote the attainment of workforce credentials, provide work-based learnings opportunities, support the development of workforce Pell-eligible programs, or expand the understanding of AI.
AACC/ACCT ask Senate Ag to support community college programs
AACC and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) this week sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, asking lawmakers to include new support for community college agriculture programs in a 2026 Senate Farm Bill.
The House of Representatives passed the “Food, Farm and National Security Act” last month. The bill, led by House Republicans, has been described as a “skinny” reauthorization of the Farm Bill – the governing legislation for all U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. The most recent Farm Bill, the Agriculture Improvement Act, expired in 2023.
The House bill includes an authorization for a new program to provide funding for community college agriculture and natural resources programs. The new program would provide competitive grants to community colleges, consortia of community colleges, and career and technical education schools that provide workforce training in agricultural fields, with a priority for applicants that offer work-based learning opportunities.
The House proposal differs slightly from the bipartisan Community College Agriculture Advancement Act (CCAAA), long endorsed by AACC. CCAAA places more emphasis on capacity building for institutions to enhance agriculture programs and promotes greater coordination between community colleges and other higher education institutions, whereas this new proposal is more directly focused on workforce and industry partnerships.
AACC welcomes all new federal grant opportunities for community colleges with agriculture programs and sees this proposal as a long overdue recognition of the roles our colleges play in building the agricultural workforce. We urge the Senate to include CCAAA or a similar proposal in its legislation and stand eager to work with policymakers in both chambers to secure funding for our programs in a final Farm Bill.
Acting Secretary Sonderling defends DOL budget
Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling testified on Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS-ED) to defend the Trump administration’s FY 27 budget. The budget proposes significant cuts to DOL job training programs, with many programs consolidated into a “Make America Skilled Again” block grant program. This closely aligns with proposals made in the administration’s FY 26 budget request, which appropriators ultimately rejected.
As covered in the Community College Daily, Sonderling faced pointed questions throughout the hearing around proposed cuts to Job Corps, administrative challenges associated with the DOL-ED interagency agreements, and how the agency will fulfill its goal to create more than 1 million new apprentices.