Workforce Pell Can't Leave Rural Areas Behind (opinion)

"Our graduates will earn at least as much as a high school graduate four years after completing one of our programs. We also have new opportunities to collaborate with our governors' workforce development boards to expand and build middle-skills pathways eligible for short-term Workforce Pell grants."

"Many rural programs enroll as few as four to 12 students. Statistically, this means the postsecondary programs at rural-serving institutions often have cohort sizes that are too small to report needed outcomes data with privacy protections. During the negotiations, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education shared a preliminary internal analysis showing programs in the most rural counties in the West were more likely than those in less rural counties to have enrollment sizes too small to be included in the sample earnings test."

"Rural learners and rural communities face unique challenges that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cannot address. Negotiated rule making elevated some of these challenges while shining a light on the need for Congress to more intentionally think about rural talent development and attraction."

A new federal higher education accountability and transparency framework establishes common expectations across all higher education sectors, requiring graduates to earn at least as much as high school graduates within four years of program completion. The framework also creates opportunities for collaboration with governors' workforce development boards to expand middle-skills pathways through short-term Workforce Pell grants. However, rural communities and institutions face significant challenges that the current framework cannot adequately address. Rural programs often enroll very small numbers of students—sometimes only four to twelve per cohort—making it statistically impossible to report outcome data while maintaining privacy protections. Analysis shows that programs in the most rural counties are disproportionately affected by these enrollment constraints, preventing them from being included in earnings outcome assessments.

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