Arizona Workforce Pell

Where Arizona stands on Workforce Pell

Status

Live: an operational approval process underway, an open application window, a pilot cohort accepting programs, or an eligible-program list being finalized and submitted to ED (the Record’s definition).

Phase

First Federal Approval (Oct 22): Pima Medical Institute Phlebotomy Technician; 98-Occupation Subjects Table Posted

Lead agency

Office of Economic Opportunity, with the Workforce Arizona Council (Governor's OSI / Talent Ready Arizona)

Current holdup

ED / OEO

ED approved Pima Medical Institute's Phlebotomy Technician program (Phoenix) on October 22, 2026, the state's first federal approval and, per the release, the seventh state to receive one; the two state-certified Commercial Driver License programs (Eastern Arizona College, HDS Truck Driving Institute) have no announced federal action, and the council's six deferred applications go to its November meeting. Earlier: Governor Hobbs, the Workforce Arizona Council, and OEO formally announced state certification of Arizona's first three programs: Commercial Driver License at Eastern Arizona College, Commercial Driver License at HDS Truck Driving Institute, and Phlebotomy Technician at Pima Medical Institute (Phoenix), which "can now submit for federal approval" to ED; per Open Campus reporting, the council acted September 17 and the other six of nine submissions were deferred to its November meeting; the release sets the going-forward cadence at two application cycles per year, windows opening January and July with council action anticipated May and November; the release circulated in full via syndication September 23-24 while the state's own bot-walled pages do not yet show a canonical posting; the OEO site also posts an Approved Training Subjects table for Workforce Pell applications, 295 CIP-to-SOC rows covering 98 distinct occupations (75 approved statewide, 23 only in one or more of nine local workforce areas), each with a 2024 average annual wage and a minimum education level, that earlier sweeps missed behind the oeo.az.gov bot wall

State portal

oeo.az.gov

What the record documents

OEO opened the Workforce Pell state certification application window on July 31, 2026: Pell-eligible institutions with qualifying short-term programs submit applications through August 24, 2026, and certified programs are to be notified after September 17, 2026; state certification precedes submission to the U.S. Department of Education. Certification applications cover institution eligibility, labor market alignment, employer engagement and validation, student outcomes, and consumer disclosures (contact: gina.flores@oeo.az.gov). This followed the draft-policy public comment that closed July 20; program alignment is anchored to Arizona's Labor Market Job Rankings, and the OEO site posts the resulting Approved Training Subjects table (see the October 27 correction below). Earlier steps: OSI's Talent Ready Arizona page and institutional Interest List (closed June 5), and a Governor's Office and OEO working group developing policy with the Workforce Arizona Council. The OEO timeline (page re-verified September 3) sets September 17, 2026 as the milestone when the Workforce Arizona Council reviews eligible programs and votes on the final policy and eligible programs receive the governor's certification for submission to ED, and the page states Arizona "is on track to have programs approved by mid-September." On September 17, 2026 the Workforce Arizona Council certified the state's first three programs, Commercial Driver License at Eastern Arizona College and at HDS Truck Driving Institute and Pima Medical Institute's Phlebotomy Technician in Phoenix, which can now submit to the U.S. Department of Education; Governor Hobbs, the council, and OEO announced the certifications publicly September 23, the OEO news release confirms the action (the September 17 date corrected from the announcement date on a reader tip verified against the release), and the release sets two application cycles per year with six deferred applications going to the council's November meeting. The OEO page now details the cadence: starting in 2027, Arizona plans two application cycles per year, with windows opening in January and July and Workforce Arizona Council action anticipated in June and December. On October 22, 2026 the U.S. Department of Education approved Pima Medical Institute's Phlebotomy Technician program in Phoenix, "marking the seventh state in the nation to receive a program approval"; Secretary McMahon announced it the same day in remarks at Arizona State University, and the two state-certified Commercial Driver License programs have no announced federal action. The approved program is the first ED-announced Workforce Pell approval at an institution that is not a public two-year college. Correction, October 27, 2026: earlier rows said Arizona had published no occupation list. The OEO site posts an Approved Training Subjects for Workforce Pell Applications table, which the Workforce Pell page describes as the occupations identified as in demand, high-wage, or high-skill through Arizona's approved methodology; the page is bot-walled, the Wayback capture of October 22 already links the table, and the table itself was read from a copy saved by the site owner on October 27. Counted from that copy: 295 rows pairing 150 CIP codes with 98 distinct SOC codes, 193 rows approved statewide (75 occupations) and 102 rows approved only for one of nine local workforce areas (23 further occupations, from Pima County's 39 rows to Northeastern Arizona's 2), each row carrying a 2024 average annual wage (from $37,029 for agricultural equipment operators in Southeastern Arizona to $209,750 for airline pilots statewide) and a minimum education level (of the 98 occupations, 43 list a high school diploma, 25 a bachelor's degree, 14 no formal credential, 9 a postsecondary non-degree award, and 7 an associate's degree). The same capture shows the page now linking the final Arizona Workforce Pell Program Policy and a Preparing to Apply workbook, and carrying a certification FAQ: the state independently verifies a 70 percent completion rate, a 70 percent job placement rate, and value-added earnings one year after completion from student-level records submitted through SFTP and destroyed one month after submission; certified programs reapply every two years and when the institution's Program Participation Agreement expires; and OEO may suspend or withdraw a certification for inaccurate information, lapsed performance, or a material change in employer demand. The final Arizona Workforce Pell Program Policy (Workforce Arizona Council Policy Number 16, effective September 17, 2026, 25 pages, read from a copy saved October 27) designates OEO as lead agency and the council as the Governor's certifying official, voting in public; defines an eligible occupation as one meeting the state's in-demand criteria and appearing on a qualifying-occupations list derived from OEO's labor market ranking methodology, expressed as SOC codes with a published SOC/CIP crosswalk, applied statewide with regional variations, and reviewed every two years (a program whose CIP is off the crosswalk may still show alignment to a listed occupation); requires at least one year of prior operation, 75 percent of instruction by the eligible institution, in-state portability, credit articulation within the same two-digit CIP family, 70 percent completion and placement verified from Unemployment Insurance wage records (any employment in the second quarter after exit through 2028-29, employment in the program's SOC or a comparable occupation from 2029-30), and a cost screen that declines certification where published tuition and fees are likely to exceed projected value-added earnings; deems Registered Apprenticeship related instruction aligned; and sets 30-day appeals, twice-yearly cycles, reapproval at least every two years, and a public dashboard comparing each program's tuition and fees with completers' earnings. The Workforce Arizona Council's meetings page lists its Executive Committee for November 12 and the Full Council for November 19, 2026, 1:00 to 3:00 pm, both without posted agendas as of November 3. Source, OSI page

Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.

Eligible occupations in Arizona

Arizona has 98 occupations on the state’s eligible-occupation list. Open the state’s list. Its list design, side by side with the other published frameworks, is in the State Approval Comparison.

Approved programs (state / federal)

Three state-certified September 17, 2026 (Commercial Driver License at Eastern Arizona College and at HDS Truck Driving Institute, Phlebotomy Technician at Pima Medical Institute); Pima Medical Institute's Phlebotomy Technician ED-approved October 22

List philosophy

Statewide list with regional variation, derived from the Office of Economic Opportunity's labor market ranking methodology, which rates occupations at each education level on high-skill and high-wage criteria, demand, wages, and knowledge, skills, and abilities; a program whose CIP is not on the crosswalk may still qualify by showing alignment to a listed occupation

High-wage definition

No numeric threshold in the policy; favorable wages are one input to the ranking methodology, and the table reports a 2024 average annual wage for each occupation and area

Skill and demand logic

An occupation qualifies by appearing on the list; the state certifies alignment with high-skill, high-wage (Perkins section 112), or in-demand (29 U.S.C. 3112) occupations, and Registered Apprenticeship related instruction is deemed aligned

Lead and approver

Office of Economic Opportunity administers; the Workforce Arizona Council, as the Governor's designated official, certifies by public motion and vote; appeals within 30 days with a written determination within 30 days; ED makes the final designation

List refresh

List and crosswalk reviewed every two years; eligibility cycles twice a year (from 2027, windows opening January and July with council action in June and December); programs reapproved at least every two years with annual verification through the Integrated Data System

Sources

Every primary source the record cites for Arizona, last checked November 6, 2026.

• State Workforce Pell portal (oeo.az.gov)
• OEO news release (oeo.az.gov)
• approved (www.ed.gov)
• Approved Training Subjects for Workforce Pell Applications (oeo.az.gov)
• Arizona Workforce Pell Program Policy (oeo.az.gov)
• OSI page (osi.az.gov)
• Pima Medical Institute: pmi.edu (pmi.edu)