Maryland Workforce Pell
Live: Applications Open (MWE, Rolling). Last documented action: Jul 10, 2026.
Drawn from Maryland’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 Maryland 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
- Applications Open (MWE, Rolling)
- Lead agency
- Governor's Workforce Development Board (leads implementation on the Governor's behalf), with MD Labor, MHEC, and the MLDS Center
- Current holdup
- GWDB
- Rolling applications through the unified ETPL and Workforce Pell application on the Maryland Workforce Exchange; GWDB technical review and cross-agency Workforce Pell Review Committee recommendation, with quarterly state determinations issued in August, November, February, and May; no August determination list or count is posted, the page says the approved list follows ED approvals, and the GWDB's posted September 23 quarterly-meeting agenda (3:00 to 5:00 pm, at the Raising the Bar Conference, Baltimore) carries no Workforce Pell item
- State portal
- gwdb.maryland.gov
What the record documents
The Governor's Workforce Development Board issued Policy Issuance 2026-01, Maryland's Workforce Pell Program Determination Policy, dated July 10, 2026, and its Workforce Pell page states Maryland is now accepting applications from eligible institutions. Maryland uses a single unified ETPL and Workforce Pell application on the Maryland Workforce Exchange, accepted on a rolling basis; GWDB staff conduct a technical review, the cross-agency Workforce Pell Review Committee issues a consensus recommendation to the GWDB Chair, and quarterly state eligibility determinations are issued in August, November, February, and May. Institutions then submit state-certified programs to ED under GENERAL-26-44, MHEC publishes approved programs within 30 days of ED's determination, and the first continuing-eligibility reviews arrive as early as August 2027. The policy (SB 0509 of 2026, Chapter 724, provides the statutory frame) adopts ED's regulations by reference and sets state definitions: high-skill is O*NET Job Zone 3 or higher, and in-demand requires projected annual openings in the top 30 percent statewide plus growth at or above the statewide average, with a Governor's Strategic Designation pathway for occupations the GWDB designates as strategically critical; Registered Apprenticeship programs automatically meet the occupation-alignment and employer-alignment criteria. Appendix D publishes the occupation table: counted from the policy file, 274 occupations, of which 269 are flagged as high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand. A July 8 FAQ for institutions states that Maryland accepted applications beginning July 10, that Year 1 programs already on the ETPL must still file the separate Workforce Pell application on the Maryland Workforce Exchange, and that information-session and office-hours dates are to be posted (contact workforce.pell@maryland.gov). The August determination cycle has produced no posted list or count; the GWDB's next quarterly board meeting is September 23, 2026, followed by December 9. Source
Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.
Key dates for Maryland
From the Record’s key-dates panel, recent milestones and upcoming deadlines.
| When | Date | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Recent | Jun 1 | Maryland SB 0509 took effect |
| Recent | Jul 10 | Maryland GWDB issued Policy 2026-01, the state determination policy; rolling applications open through the Maryland Workforce Exchange |
| Recent | Aug 31 | August ended with Michigan's first-cycle letters, Maryland's first quarterly determinations, and Washington's Aug 26 board-vote outcome all unposted |
| Recent | Sep 23 | Maryland's board met with no Workforce Pell item |
| Upcoming | Nov 2026 | Maryland's quarterly state eligibility determinations issue in November |
Eligible occupations in Maryland
Maryland has 269 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
- Broad published flag table; any one criterion qualifies
- High-wage definition
- Median wage above the state median (OEWS), with local-area variation consideration
- Skill and demand logic
- High-skill OR high-wage OR in-demand (one or more), plus Governor's Strategic Designation pathway
- Lead and approver
- GWDB leads on the Governor's behalf; Review Committee recommends; MD Labor hosts MWE; MHEC publishes approved list
- List refresh
- List updated at least every other year; quarterly determinations Aug/Nov/Feb/May
Approved Workforce Pell programs in Maryland
No Maryland 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 Maryland, last checked November 6, 2026.
- State Workforce Pell portal (gwdb.maryland.gov)
- Policy Issuance 2026-01 (gwdb.maryland.gov)
- FAQ for institutions (gwdb.maryland.gov)
- board meeting (gwdb.maryland.gov)
- Eligible-occupation list (gwdb.maryland.gov)
- Maryland 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: Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, District of Columbia.