Maine Workforce Pell

Where Maine 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

Second Cycle Open to Nov 13; Comment Responses Posted; Determinations Unposted

Lead agency

Maine State Workforce Development Board / Maine DOL

Current holdup

SWDB / Maine DOL

First-cycle submissions closed September 11; the September 25 Quarter 3 meeting date has passed, its posted agenda carrying "Workforce Pell Program Approval & Lessons Learned" as a 10:00 am item with the June 29 and July 30 Workforce Pell meeting minutes as pre-reads (9:00 am to noon, MDOL, Augusta), and no outcome, approved-program list, or minutes are posted; the revised Determination Policy from the October 5 special meeting is now posted (PY 26-01C1, revision date 10/5/2026), embedding the 72-occupation Appendix B priority list, while the meeting minutes, the standalone 2026 High Wage, In Demand list, and the first-cycle determinations remain unposted; quarterly cycles continue (November 13 submissions for December 11 review), with recommendation to the governor for certification, then ED submission; no certified-program list posted yet; MDOL's October 14 release confirms second-cycle applications are due November 13 with Monday office hours October 19 through November 9 and a program design webinar October 27 whose recording and 23-slide deck are now posted on the portal, and the portal now links a 20-page overview of the public comments on the determination policy with the board's responses

State portal

www.worksourcemaine.com

What the record documents

The SWDB adopted the Maine Workforce Pell Program Determination Policy (PY 26-01) at its July 30, 2026 Workforce Pell meeting, resolving the vote whose outcome had gone unposted: the final policy is issued July 30 and marked Active, and the posted file is dated August 11, 2026. On August 12, 2026 the Maine Department of Labor announced that Maine's Workforce Pell application is open: accredited public, nonprofit, or for-profit Title IV institutions apply online through WorkSourceMaine, and applications received by September 11 are considered in the September review cycle. The SWDB reviews applications quarterly and makes recommendations to the governor for state certification, then approved programs go to ED for final approval; following federal approval the SWDB publishes the list of Maine-certified programs on the state Workforce Pell page within 30 days. The portal now posts the full application kit: the Priority Occupation List (Appendix B of the policy; counted from the file: 72 distinct SOC occupations across two tiers, high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand occupations and essential in-demand occupations), a step-by-step submission guide, employer validation form, data-sharing agreement, participant data worksheet, recordings of the August 14 and August 31 webinars, and a one-page Q&A from the August 31 webinar posted September 1 (the data-sharing agreement runs between the institution and MDOL with participant data used only for outcome matching, Workforce Pell is not a separate funding stream, and awards count against Lifetime Eligibility Used). Review runs on a published Year 1 calendar: complete submissions by September 11 are reviewed at the September 25 SWDB meeting, by November 13 for December 11, and quarterly into 2027, with incomplete or late submissions rolling forward automatically. The September review date discrepancy between the two state sources is resolved: the State Workforce Board's meeting page now carries the notice that the September 18 meeting was rescheduled to September 25, 2026 (9:00 am to noon, MDOL, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta), matching the Workforce Pell page's Year 1 review calendar, and the posted Quarter 3 agenda lists "Workforce Pell Program Approval & Lessons Learned" as a 10:00 am item, followed by review of the 2026 High Wage, In Demand list, with the June 29 and July 30 Workforce Pell meeting minutes among the pre-read materials; the agenda does not state submission counts. The meeting date has passed with no outcome, approved-program list, or minutes posted; the one-page agenda packet remains the only posted material. The board has since scheduled a special virtual meeting for October 5, 2026 (12:30 to 1:30 pm, Zoom), whose posted agenda leads with "Approval of Workforce Pell Determination Policy changes" (Jillian Sample, Workforce Development Program Manager) followed by a 2026 High Wage, In Demand list review and recommendation to Commissioner Fortman; the pending policy amendment is notable because first-cycle applications were reviewed under the current policy, and the agenda does not describe the changes. The revised Determination Policy is now posted on the portal: PY 26-01C1 carries "Revision Dates: 10/5/2026", is signed by SWDB Director Christopher Quint, and embeds Appendix B, the Workforce Pell Priority Occupations List, with 72 SOC occupations in two tiers (high-wage, high-skill, in-demand and essential, in-demand; recounted from the revised PDF October 12, matching the August count). The October 5 meeting minutes, the standalone 2026 High Wage, In Demand list (the portal still links the August Appendix B file), and any first-cycle determinations remain unposted, and the quarterly deadlines are unchanged (November 13 submissions for the December 11 board meeting, then February 12 and May 14 cycles). A Step-by-Step Submission Guide dated October 14 is now posted on the portal (guide) (revised policy). The same day the Maine Senate confirmed Vaughan Woodruff to a second term as board chair (MDOL item). The policy had earlier run public comment June 30 through July 14 on the draft, and the 2026 WIOA Unified State Plan modification separately commits to integrating Workforce Pell with the state's Eligible Training Provider List. Partners named in the announcement include Maine DOE, FAME, the community college system, and the University of Maine System. MDOL's October 14, 2026 release set the second review cycle's deadline at Friday, November 13, with virtual office hours from 1 to 2 p.m. every Monday from October 19 through November 9 and a Workforce Pell Program Design Webinar at 11 a.m. on October 27 for institutions planning future applications, with a recording to be posted; by October 28 the webinar text had left the portal and no recording was posted. The portal now links an Overview of Public Comments Received for the Program Determination Policy (20 pages, file generated October 28), tabulating the June 30 to July 14 comments from eight commenters (two individuals, Maine Preservation, State Representative Marshall Archer, the Maine Community College System, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and two University of Maine System staff) with the board's responses: the board states it cannot waive federal requirements in state policy, occupations can be added by petition letter to the board's director, the policy was updated to accept catalog and curricular documentation as evidence of internal stackability, and Engineering Technologists and Technicians (SOC 17-3020) was not added because it did not align with a top-three priority sector in any local workforce area. Source, MDOL announcement

Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.

Eligible occupations in Maine

Maine has 72 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

Mid-size, two-tier priority list

High-wage definition

Median wage exceeds the statewide median across all Maine occupations (2023)

Skill and demand logic

Tier 1: post-HS education requirement AND high-wage AND top-3 local sector alignment; Tier 2: essential public-infrastructure occupations

Lead and approver

SWDB with its Workforce Pell Advisory Committee recommends, MDOL CWRI supplies labor-market data, Governor certifies

List refresh

At least biennial (appended to the CSSP list), with a petition process to add occupations

Approved Workforce Pell programs in Maine

No Maine 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 Maine, last checked November 6, 2026.

• State Workforce Pell portal (www.worksourcemaine.com)
• Maine Workforce Pell Program Determination Policy (www.worksourcemaine.com)
• announced (www.maine.gov)
• Priority Occupation List (www.worksourcemaine.com)
• Q&A from the August 31 webinar (www.worksourcemaine.com)
• meeting page (www.maine.gov)
• agenda (www.maine.gov)
• guide (www.worksourcemaine.com)
• revised policy (www.worksourcemaine.com)
• MDOL item (www.maine.gov)
• October 14, 2026 release (www.maine.gov)
• Overview of Public Comments Received for the Program Determination Policy (www.worksourcemaine.com)