Illinois Workforce Pell
Live: First-Round Window Closed Aug 31. Last documented action: Aug 31, 2026.
Drawn from Illinois’s row in the Workforce Pell State Implementation Record, which tracks all 52 jurisdictions from primary sources: state agency pages, board minutes, statutes and U.S. Department of Education releases.
Where Illinois 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-Round Window Closed Aug 31
- Lead agency
- Illinois Interagency Workforce Pell Team (Governor's Office, ICCB, IBHE, DCEO, IDES, ISAC, IWIB)
- Current holdup
- Interagency WFP Team
- First-round applications ran July 15 through August 31 for award years 2026-27 and 2027-28, with interagency review, then state approval and ED submission; the ICCB's September 24-25 agendas, now posted on the board-meetings page, carry Workforce Pell twice, a committee report on Illinois Workforce Pell implementation (item 8.1a) and the Illinois Workforce Pell Program Approval Manual on the consent agenda (item 14.3, board book pages 121 to 150), with no program-approval action item; the September 25 board book is posted (item 8.1a frames the presentation as including a first-round application update, with no counts in the book), minutes and first-round outcomes are unposted, and the November 6 board agenda, posted November 4, has no Workforce Pell item, while the Academic, Workforce, and Student Support Committee agenda for the same morning lists a Workforce Pell Update as an information item
- State portal
- www.iccb.org
What the record documents
On July 15, 2026 the Illinois Interagency Workforce Pell Team published the final Workforce Pell Program Approval Manual and opened the first-round institution application window, July 15 through August 31, 2026, covering award years 2026-27 and 2027-28. Community colleges, universities, and approved private business and vocational schools apply through a posted application form, with an overview webinar July 21; ICCB hosts the state hub with an institutional readiness checklist, student-data template, a frequently-asked-questions document posted August 3, and weekly Monday office hours through August 24. Eligibility screens against the eligible occupations list (Appendix A): counted from the posted file, 195 distinct occupations (O*NET-SOC 2019 codes), built on the state's WIOA Demand Occupation Training List and including petition-based local additions. The draft manual's public comment ran June 2 to 11. Mid-window, ICCB posted an Implementation FAQ dated August 3, 2026 alongside the July 21 application-launch webinar deck; Monday office hours run July 27 through August 24, and the FAQ says ICCB expects to submit approved applications to ED in winter 2026-27. The first-round window closed on its posted August 31 end date with no submission counts announced. The 30-page Illinois Workforce Pell Program Approval Manual (final, dated July 15, 2026, and carried in the September 25 board book as an information item) publishes the state's first concrete certification calendar: interagency review of Round 1 applications runs September 1 to 30 with student-level files matched to IDES wage records, the IWIB recommends, the Governor certifies by November 30 with institutions notified by December 7, and ED E-App review is estimated for winter 2026-27; additional rounds are to be announced in fall 2026, only Illinois-based providers are approved for award years 2026-27 and 2027-28, approvals run two years from ED approval with renewal due 120 days before the anniversary, benchmark failure brings immediate suspension, and appeals run 14 days for initial denials and 30 for suspensions. The manual's Appendix A remains the 195-occupation eligible list (recounted from the posted workbook September 24: 195 rows, 195 distinct codes; an automated read that reported 521 rows was counting empty spreadsheet rows). Employer validation accepts a job-postings analysis or three or more unique employer letters plus a competency-alignment letter, and Registered Apprenticeship related instruction auto-satisfies the demand and employer-validation requirements. ICCB posted the September 25 board book in October: item 8.1a is Deputy Director Whitney Thompson's presentation on Illinois' implementation and an update on the first round of applications, with no counts in the book; the next board meeting is November 6, 2026 in Springfield; its agenda, posted November 4, has no Workforce Pell item (the action items are the fiscal year 2028 budget recommendation, new units at three colleges, and a consent agenda), while the Academic, Workforce, and Student Support Committee agenda for 8:00 am the same day lists a Workforce Pell Update under Adult Education and Workforce Education as an information item, with no board book posted. Nov 6 board agenda, committee agenda, Source
Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.
Key dates for Illinois
From the Record’s key-dates panel, recent milestones and upcoming deadlines.
| When | Date | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Recent | Jul 15 | Illinois published its final Program Approval Manual and opened first-round applications (through Aug 31) |
| Recent | Jul 21 | Illinois held its application-overview webinar |
| Recent | Aug 31 | Illinois's first-round and South Dakota's inaugural windows closed on their posted end dates (no close announcements or counts posted) |
| Recent | Sep 24-25 | Illinois’s ICCB held its work session and board meeting at Elgin Community College with no agenda, materials, or first-round outcomes posted |
| Upcoming | Nov 2026 | Illinois Governor certification target Nov 30, institutions notified by Dec 7 and ED review estimated winter 2026-27, per the approval manual |
Eligible occupations in Illinois
Illinois has 195 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)
- None yet
- List philosophy
- Existing WIOA demand list (DOTL) plus petitions
- High-wage definition
- Median wage at least 85% of the MIT Living Wage for 1 adult and 1 child (85% of $26.48 = $22.51 hourly)
- Skill and demand logic
- On the DOTL: entry-education band AND wage floor AND openings threshold (at least 0.01% of statewide employment); petitions add occupations for federal, state, or local priorities
- Lead and approver
- Interagency team (ICCB hub; DCEO manages the DOTL); Governor approval, then ED
- List refresh
- At least every two years (with the WIOA State Plan cycle)
Approved Workforce Pell programs in Illinois
No Illinois program appears in the Record’s approved-programs table (U.S. Department of Education announcements and state rosters of federally approved programs) as of November 5, 2026.
Sources
Every primary source the record cites for Illinois, last checked November 6, 2026.
- State Workforce Pell portal (www.iccb.org)
- Workforce Pell Program Approval Manual (www.iccb.org)
- eligible occupations list (Appendix A) (www.iccb.org)
- Implementation FAQ dated August 3, 2026 (www.iccb.org)
- Nov 6 board agenda (www.iccb.org)
- committee agenda (www.iccb.org)
- Illinois in the State Implementation Record: the national record of all 52 jurisdictions, with this row in context.
- State Approval Comparison: how each state defines eligible programs and occupations.
- Workforce Pell for Students: approved programs, costs and how to apply.
- Workforce Pell by state: every jurisdiction’s page.
- Nearby states: Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana.