South Carolina Workforce Pell

Where South Carolina 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 (SCWOS)

Lead agency

SC Department of Employment and Workforce (administrator), under the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development by governor delegation, with the State Workforce Development Board

Current holdup

DEW / CCWD

DEW's revised page (July 23) presents the SCWOS application as open with no window language, while State Instruction 25-18's quarterly-window terms remain posted; SWDB committee and a CCWD working group review concurrently and the CCWD Executive Committee makes the final determination; a sitewide notice says the PATh ETPL system is migrating into SCWOS, with PATh inaccessible to providers from September 22 and completion targeted September 25; the October 1 quarterly-window date under the instruction passed with the page unchanged, still presenting the application as open with no window language and no list entries posted; the SC Works Management Committee's November 5 meeting materials, posted November 3, have no Workforce Pell item (the agenda covers the ETPL policy, a workforce transition project, and PY 2025 performance), so the review venues ahead, per the CCWD FY 2026-27 calendar and the PY 2026 SWDB schedule, are the CCWD Executive Committee (which issues final determinations) on November 16, the full CCWD on December 7, and the full SWDB on December 17

State portal

scworks.org

What the record documents

Governor McMaster delegated core Workforce Pell responsibilities to the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development (CCWD), in consultation with the State Workforce Development Board, with DEW administering the program. State Instruction 25-18, issued June 26, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, sets quarterly application windows through SC Works Online Services (opening the first business day of each quarter for 15 business days) toward a state Eligible Workforce Pell List, with a one-year initial eligibility period followed by continued-eligibility review. Initial implementation targets a pilot eligible-occupations list of 24 occupations concentrated in health care, construction and heavy equipment, welding and machining, and commercial driving. On July 20, 2026 DEW issued a news release announcing Governor McMaster's designation of DEW as the state entity implementing Workforce Pell, with the CCWD and SWDB working groups supporting the CCWD Executive Committee's provider determinations. The Q3 window's 15-business-day term under the instruction ran through July 22, and on July 23, 2026 DEW revised the page: the quarterly-window and next-window language no longer appears and the application is presented as open through SCWOS with the provider attestation form, while State Instruction 25-18, still posted, continues to set quarterly windows opening the first business day of each quarter. On July 30, 2026 DEW added a blank Letter of Certification, the CCWD Executive Committee's per-program certification instrument: it cites 34 CFR 690.93(a) and 690.94(a)(2)(i), requires that a program have met eligibility requirements for at least the 12 months preceding certification, and records per-program completion and job-placement rates, so the certification stage is being tooled before any list entry has posted. No posted document reconciles the two window readings, and no application counts or Eligible Workforce Pell List entries have been published. Contact WFPell@dew.sc.gov. The posted PY 2026 SWDB meeting schedule and the CCWD FY 2026-27 calendar place the SC Works Management Committee on November 5, the CCWD Executive Committee on November 16, the full CCWD on December 7, and the full SWDB on December 17, the venues through which any first determinations would move. The SC Works Management Committee's November 5 meeting materials, posted November 3, have no Workforce Pell item. Nov 5 materials, Source, DEW release

Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.

Eligible occupations in South Carolina

South Carolina has 24 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

Tight pilot list; targeted initial implementation with ongoing evaluation

High-wage definition

Not separately published (pilot occupations pre-selected)

Skill and demand logic

Targeted pilot set of occupations and sectors, per State Instruction 25-18

Lead and approver

DEW administers; CCWD decides by governor delegation, with SWDB

List refresh

Pilot list versioned (V3); quarterly application cycles

Approved Workforce Pell programs in South Carolina

No South Carolina 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 South Carolina, last checked November 6, 2026.

• State Workforce Pell portal (scworks.org)
• State Instruction 25-18 (scworks.org)
• pilot eligible-occupations list of 24 occupations (scworks.org)
• Letter of Certification (scworks.org)
• PY 2026 SWDB meeting schedule (www.scworks.org)
• CCWD FY 2026-27 calendar (www.dew.sc.gov)
• Nov 5 materials (scworks.org)
• DEW release (dew.sc.gov)