Washington Workforce Pell

Where Washington 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

Pilot Applications Open (WSAC); Cycle 1 Deadline November 6

Lead agency

Governor's Policy office (lead), with a six-agency steering committee including the Workforce Board, SBCTC, and WSAC

Current holdup

WSAC / Steering Committee

Washington's pilot application is open: the Washington Student Achievement Council's Pell for Workforce Programs page posts the Washington Workforce Pell Application (PDF), Application Guidance dated September 25, 2026, and a 123-occupation eligibility list, with intake by email to wsacworkforcepell@wsac.wa.gov after agency verification; the guidance sets a November 2026 Cycle 1 deadline, Steering Committee review and Governor certification in November, and a Cycle 2 deadline in February 2027; the October 28 board packet's August 26 minutes record a unanimous vote affirming the pilot process (MOTION-2025-284-02) and its staff report states the application is now live; an application webinar is set for October 30; no approved-program list yet; WSAC's timeline table sets the Cycle 1 application deadline at November 6, 2026 and Cycle 2 at February 2027; the Workforce Board's October 28 agenda carried no Workforce Pell item; WSAC posted its October 30 information-session slides and Q&A on the page: SBCTC colleges needed their internal form in by November 3 to meet the November 6 WSAC date, the SBCTC portal will take Workforce Pell applications on a rolling basis after this cycle, programs must be both under 600 clock hours and 8 to 14 weeks, and Emergency Medical Technicians (SOC 29-2042) were left off the state list for not meeting Washington's high-growth definition

State portal

wsac.wa.gov

What the record documents

The Workforce Board's June 26, 2026 meeting packet (posted July 2026) states that the Governor's Policy office is leading Pell for Workforce implementation, guided by a cross-agency steering committee of the Washington Student Achievement Council, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, the Department of Commerce, the Employment Security Department, and the Department of Labor & Industries; its key decision areas are eligibility definitions, employer validation, program stackability, and maintaining the eligible-program list. At that meeting the Washington Roundtable and the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO presented joint industry recommendations (a discussion item, addressed to Governor Ferguson): rely on the federal eligibility criteria rather than adding state criteria in year one, then build a structured employer and sector demand-validation system, with enabling investments in advising capacity, wraparound supports, and rural access. The Workforce Board hosts the state's public Workforce Pell page and posted an information session March 20, 2026. The August 26 board packet, posted the week of August 17, carries the draft Washington Workforce Pell Application Guidance as a 9:25 am action item: the board votes on recommending the steering committee's pilot-year process to the governor. The design uses a single state application with the Washington Student Achievement Council as the front door and four steps: a verification letter from the agency that already oversees each provider type (SBCTC for community and technical colleges, the Workforce Board and Career Bridge for private career schools and non-college apprenticeships, WSAC for four-year institutions), a WSAC portal application, Cross-Agency Steering Committee review with governor certification, then federal E-App submission. Program alignment during the pilot runs solely against an ESD-produced Workforce Pell Eligible Occupations List of 123 occupations, in-demand and paying at or above the self-sufficiency wage, with no employer letters or labor-market surveys accepted; denials carry a 30-calendar-day appeal window, and approved programs populate Career Bridge. Pilot Cycle 1 dates are proposed, to be confirmed on the WSAC page: portal opening September 2026, application deadline October 2026, steering-committee decision October 2026, with Cycle 2 proposed for January and February 2027. Remaining 2026 board meetings are August 26, October 28, and December 10. The application channel is now open. By October 26, 2026 the Washington Student Achievement Council's Pell for Workforce Programs page posts the Washington Workforce Pell Application form, the Application Guidance dated September 25, 2026 (16 pages), and the Workforce Pell eligibility list compiled by the Employment Security Department (data updated September 14, 2026; 123 distinct SOC codes counted from the workbook, occupations with projected growth whose first-quartile wage meets a $20.46 self-sufficiency threshold), and invites institutions to an October 30 information session. The guidance describes four steps: verification by the agency that already oversees each provider type (SBCTC for community and technical colleges, the Workforce Board for private career schools, WSAC for others), a final application by email to WSAC, Cross-Agency Steering Committee review and Governor certification, then the institution's E-App submission to ED; the pilot timeline sets Cycle 1 with an October 2026 opening, a November 2026 application deadline, and Steering Committee review and certification in November, and Cycle 2 with a February 2027 deadline, with a 30-day appeal window. The Workforce Board's October 28 packet resolves the August 26 question: the minutes record MOTION-2025-284-02, affirming the direction of the pilot application and approval process and the Board's role in it, passed unanimously (a second motion added "high wage" to the Board's legislative agenda item), and the staff report states "The Workforce Pell application is now live for Washington!" With a posted application form, guidance, and intake channel, the process is counted as operational. Source, board packet The Tab 3 presentation posted with the August 26 packet frames the vote as a motion to affirm the direction of the pilot application and approval process and the board's roles (verification agency for private career schools and non-college Registered Apprenticeships, steering-committee seat, Career Bridge integration, outcomes oversight), not an approval of individual programs. As of September 8 no minutes, news item, or WSAC page records the vote outcome: the board page now links the TVW recording and a revised packet dated August 26 whose only addition is the Executive Director's report (naming Workforce Pell implementation as a theme of the NGA summer Workforce Institute and an invitation for the acting director to present on Workforce Pell at WICHE), the October 28 meeting is listed with no agenda content yet, and the WSAC Workforce Pell page is not yet live; the packet's timeline (all rows marked proposed) has the Cycle 1 portal opening and provider webinar in September 2026, agency verification September to October, an October application deadline, and a second cycle in January to February 2027, with a 123-occupation ESD eligible-occupations list still shown as a placeholder in the draft. WSAC's page timeline table states the application deadline as November 6, 2026 for Cycle 1 and February 2027 for Cycle 2, with Steering Committee review and Governor certification to follow; the application guidance PDF itself says only November 2026. The Workforce Board's October 28, 2026 agenda (Pierce County Skills Center) carried no Workforce Pell item, and the October 30 information session for applicants was WSAC's; by November 2 the page links the session's slides and Q&A alongside ED's October 2026 Workforce Pell FAQs, and the Q&A states that SBCTC colleges needed their internal form submitted by November 3 to meet the November 6 WSAC date, that the SBCTC PAR portal will accept Workforce Pell applications on a rolling basis after this cycle, that programs must be both under 600 clock hours and 8 to 14 weeks, and that Emergency Medical Technicians (SOC 29-2042) were not included on Washington's list because the occupation did not meet the state's high-growth definition.

Verified against the sources on November 6, 2026.

Eligible occupations in Washington

Washington has 123 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

Curated pilot list: in-demand occupations screened by a self-sufficiency wage floor, with each program then verified by the agency that already oversees its provider type

High-wage definition

First-quartile (25th percentile) wage at or above $20.46 per hour, a weighted statewide self-sufficiency wage per the list's methodology note

Skill and demand logic

List: high demand (projected job growth) AND high wage (first-quartile wage above the threshold); the application guidance restates the federal high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand floor for programs

Lead and approver

The Washington Student Achievement Council is the single front door; agency verification by SBCTC (community and technical colleges), the Workforce Board (private career schools), or WSAC (others), then Cross-Agency Steering Committee review and Governor certification

List refresh

Two pilot-year cycles: Cycle 1 deadline November 6, 2026, Cycle 2 deadline February 2027, each followed by committee review, certification, and a 30-day appeal window

Approved Workforce Pell programs in Washington

No Washington 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 Washington, last checked November 6, 2026.

• State Workforce Pell portal (wsac.wa.gov)
• joint industry recommendations (wtb.wa.gov)
• August 26 board packet (wtb.wa.gov)
• Application Guidance (wsac.wa.gov)
• Workforce Pell eligibility list (wsac.wa.gov)
• October 28 packet (wtb.wa.gov)
• Source (wtb.wa.gov)
• TVW recording (tvw.org)
• October 28, 2026 agenda (wtb.wa.gov)
• slides (wsac.wa.gov)
• Q&A (wsac.wa.gov)