The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) on Friday released its analysis of the U.S. Education Department’s (ED) proposed regulations for the new Workforce Pell program, which begins July 1.
AACC will submit formal comments to ED and urges AACC-member institutions to engage in the process. Comments are due April 8.
While the bulk of the text largely follows the language agreed upon by negotiators during December’s negotiated rulemaking session, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released earlier this week includes several directed questions for the field’s input. Beyond these questions, the comment period offers an opportunity for stakeholders to raise remaining questions that need clarification and to offer support or opposition to ED’s interpretation of the statute, though substantial alterations are unlikely.
AACC will provide draft comments to members early in the week of March 23. While AACC’s input will be made on behalf of the entire community college sector, additional comments from campuses and state offices are important in hopefully persuading department officials to alter some of their proposals. We will encourage members to build on AACC’s comments to highlight areas of particular concern for your institution and to add campus examples. In the meantime, institutions should become familiar with the pending rules.
Larger political context
To some extent, the implementation of Workforce Pell has become politically entangled with the looming Pell Grant shortfall. However, under any realistic forecast, the new authority represents only a smidgen of Pell Grant spending, so Workforce Pell won’t substantially impact the overall program’s fiscal health. Some circulated concerns are more likely a reflection of ongoing ambivalence and skepticism about the program itself, which weathered sustained political opposition before finally being signed into law last summer.
