A deal struck by Republicans and Democrats in Congress has paved the way for students to use federal grants for short training courses.
This is a rare example of sensible, bipartisan policy. As a new year begins, leaders of both parties should work to pass the legislation — together with a better plan to pay for it.
The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act would expand the range of programs eligible for Pell Grants, which are currently used by roughly 6 million undergraduates to help pay for college.
The bill allows students, for the first time, to use this aid for programs as short as eight weeks.
These are typically courses that train students in specialized skills, in fields ranging from welding to truck driving to health care. The beneficiaries would be low- and middle-income adults seeking to change careers or gain credentials for higher-paying jobs.
Up to now, the idea of expanding Pell Grants to shorter courses has failed over concerns about sending taxpayer dollars to low-quality providers.
THE FRAMEWORK negotiated by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Republican chair, Virginia Foxx, and ranking Democrat Bobby Scott addresses this by requiring that all programs demonstrate a completion and job placement rate of at least 70 percent, with graduates earning a median income of at least $21,870 plus the cost of tuition within one year.
