Office of the Secretary of Higher EducationThe Workforce Pell Grant program, enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), extends federal Pell Grant eligibility to students in qualifying short-term workforce training programs at Title IV eligible institutions.
In partnership, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) and New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) are working to ensure that as many eligible New Jersey students as possible can access these grants, and that as many qualifying programs as possible are included in this first round of eligibility determinations.
Under the law, the Governor must submit New Jersey's list of eligible programs to the U.S. ÂÜÀòÊÓƵ by July 1, 2026. To meet the deadline, NJDOL and OSHE need program and student data from your institution by May 1, 2026.
We recognize the timeline to meet the initial federal launch data is aggressive. We are aiming to meet it with the programs that are ready to provide the necessary data. There will be future opportunities for submitting your programs for consideration in other cycles.
Read the full memo from NJDOL and OSHE for details about the eligibility standards, the steps institutions will take to submit data, and how institutions can begin preparing for submission (or future submission).
Additional Resources: The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in partnership with the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, held a technical assistance workshop to overview the steps and process for initial data collection for Workforce Pell program eligibility. Watch the recording of the workshop on the or view the webinar slide deck .
Questions regarding the initial data collection should be submitted to trainingevaluationunit@dol.nj.gov with the subject line "Workforce Pell Questions".