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A new report from the Institute for College Access and Success warns that little is known about the results of short-term postsecondary education and training programs that might become eligible for Pell Grants should Congress reduce minimum program-length requirements.
Bipartisan legislation supported by community college and business groups would open Pell eligibility to higher ed programs as short as eight weeks, including non-credit-bearing programs that aren’t approved by accreditors. There is no national source of data on short-term programs that would be eligible for federal aid if Congress made that change. The TICAS report, released Monday, used available state and college-level data to assess existing programs. It found a wide range of earnings after enrolling but said available data don’t point to common features of successful programs.
The group recommended that, if Congress expands Pell Grant eligibility, it does so slowly while policy makers invest in tracking data on employment and earnings of graduates.
