Three Things House Members Must Know Before Voting on the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act – Blog Post

Next week, the House is expected to vote on the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (BWPA). This bill, a compromise struck by Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) of the Education and Workforce Committee, will expand the Pell Grant to very-short-term credentials that are less than a semester’s length. The expansion of Pell Grants, which are already available for programs as short as 15 weeks, to very-short-term programs is problematic. These types of credentials often leave people unemployed or earning poverty-level wages, and will likely lead to further racial stratification of our higher education system, continuing the trend of a “white flight to bachelor’s degrees.” Research has also found that these programs disproportionately recruit low-income, part-time students, and students of color, and leave Black students – particularly Black women with low wages.