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Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board

Workforce Pell Grant

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WORKFORCE PELL GRANT APPLICATION​

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Background

Kentucky’s Workforce Pell Grant Program outlines the approach to identifying, evaluating, and recommending short-term workforce training programs for state approval under KAR XXXXX.

The program’s goals are to:

  1. ensure programs are aligned with high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand occupations across Kentucky;
  2. promote strong outcomes, including completion, job placement, and increased earnings; and
  3. maintain a clear, consistent, and transparent process for both education providers and learners.

The federal law requires every state to implement Workforce Pell grants by July 1, 2026. In Kentucky, the Workforce Pell law was signed by the Governor on April 13, 2026.

The Governor, in consultation with the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board (KWIB), will review and approve workforce programs that meet those thresholds to submit to the Secretary of the US Department of Education.

Program Eligibility Standards

The program must:

  1. Be offered at a Higher Education Act Title IV eligible postsecondary institution;
  2. Have 8 - 14 weeks of instruction;
  3. Have a 150-599 clock hour duration;
  4. Lead to a recognized postsecondary credential that is stackable and portable, or prepares students for employment for which there is only one recognized postsecondary credential;
  5. Train students for a high-wage, high-skill, or in-demand occupation as defined by Kentucky;
  6. Demonstrate alignment with the hiring needs of employers;
  7. Demonstrate a program completion rate of 70 percent within 150 percent of the normal time for completion;
  8. Demonstrate a job placement rate of 70 percent job placement measured 180 days after completion;
  9. Provides students with academic credit for at least one related certificate or degree program at one or more eligible institutions;
  10. Have total published tuition and fees that are less than the value-added earnings (VAE) of program completers three years prior (beginning award year 2029-2030); and
  11. Have met these requirements for at least one year.

Workforce Pell Key Terms Definitions & Methodology

In Demand, High Wage, High Skill Definitions

Training programs eligible for Workforce Pell must prepare learners for occupations that are In-Demand, High-Wage, or High-Skill. The Kentucky Workforce Pell will use the following definitions and operationalized definitions for these criteria.

  1. In-Demand: An In-Demand occupation is growing faster than the overall state growth rate, makes up a substantial share of job openings, or has been identified to be strategically critical to economic growth in the Commonwealth.
  2. High-Wage: an occupation which has a median wage that meets or exceeds the overall median wages for all occupations within its relative area (either at the local workforce area or state level).
  3. High Skill: A High-Skill occupation requires technical or vocational training, related on-the-job experience, completion of an apprenticeship, or an associate's degree or higher.

Methodology & Definitions Operationalized

  1. In-Demand Operationalized: An in-demand occupation shall be determined according to the most recent set of published ten-year occupational employment projections from the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), is:
    1. One whose projected annualized employment growth rate is at least as large as the annualized projected growth rate for all occupations within its relative area (either at the local workforce areas or state level);
    2. One that is projected to account for at least 0.4% of the total demand for all occupations within the relative area (either at the local workforce areas or state level), where demand is defined as the projected job openings expected to be produced by economic growth and exits of workers from the labor force; or
    3. One that the Governor has identified to be emerging or critical to the state’s economic growth because of investment in the commonwealth, with public documentation of the rationale.
  2. High-Wage Operationalized: A high-wage occupation is determined according to the most recent set of published occupational wage estimates from the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS) or the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  3. High Skill Operationalized: A High-Skill occupation has an O*NET Job Zone score equal to or greater than 3.

The methodology for determining in-demand, high-skill, or high-wage occupations will be reviewed and updated, if necessary, at least every two years, concurrent with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) state plan submission.

Employer Validation & Job Placement

Verified employer hiring needs is a requirement of Workforce Pell, and programs must be validated by more than one employer. Qualifying institutions will be required to self-attest and provide evidence for review of the following:

  1. The program prepares Kentuckians for occupations with hiring needs by more than one employer
  2. The names of employers with current or future hiring needs for the specific program occupation with expressed intention to hire
  3. The skills, competencies, and credentials taught are aligned with employer expectations

Job Placement: Institutions will provide verification of 70 percent completion and 70 percent job placement rate within 180 days of completion.

Stackable Credentials, Portable Credentials, & Noncredit to Credit Articulation

Credentials earned by Workforce Pell participants must demonstrate stackability and portability, across postsecondary institutions and employers. The Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) provides definitions that are adopted under Kentucky’s Workforce Pell program.

Stackable Credentials: A combination of courses into diplomas or certificates that students may complete on the way toward a related degree.

Portable Credentials: A credential that is widely recognized by educational institutions and employers that allow the credential holder to seamlessly transfer that credential and apply toward a degree at the receiving institution.

Workforce Pell program providers must demonstrate stackability and portability by documentation provided in the application. Evidence can include articulation agreements, transfer-of-credit agreements, partnership agreements, documentation demonstrating agreement with Registered Apprenticeship Programs, program plans, or other similar formal arrangements.

Noncredit to Credit Articulation: Institutions are required to provide evidence of program specific articulation agreements either with their own academic programs or other institutions that demonstrate noncredit to credit transfers.

Registered Apprenticeship Programs

Registered Apprenticeship Programs automatically satisfy the in-demand, high-skill, or high-wage requirement since Registered Apprenticeship Programs are employer-validated. However, to meet other components of the federal law, Related Technical Instructions (RTI) of the Registered Apprenticeship Programs must:

  1. Be provided by an eligible institution under the Higher Education Act, which requires that the institution providing the instruction be accredited and meet all other Title IV requirements
  2. Independently meet the clock-hour, weeks-of-instruction, completion and job placement rates, and the value-added earnings requirement
  3. The RTI alone must lead to a recognized postsecondary credential
  4. The RTI must prepare students for further education and guarantee academic credit

Submission Requirements and Review

Eligible institutions can submit application documents here: Workforce Pell Grant Application​

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and will undergo quarterly review by the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board. Recommended programs will be presented to the Governor for final state approval.

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