Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
With the passage of H.R. 1 on July 4, 2025, Workforce Pell, which authorizes Pell Grants for programs as short as 150 hours and 8 weeks, is now a reality. Workforce Pell will open the door for many students to use federal need-based aid for noncredit community college education programs that meet the many articulated guardrails. Over time, literature on short-term programs and related credentials have shown modest labor market gains, which necessitates discussions of quality and value established through data. Findings presented from the State Noncredit Data Project show how community college noncredit course/programs often fall short of the mandated duration for Workforce Pell, and many state data repositories do not capture all of the data needed to identify noncredit offerings that are potentially eligible. The Noncredit Data Taxonomy 2.0 may help states and institutions consider data elements needed for Workforce Pell and better document the community college noncredit mission and outcomes.
D’Amico et al. (Tue,) studied this question.