The U.S. Department of Education is expected to expand Pell Grants beginning July 1 to cover certain short-term workforce training programs — courses that often last about 10 weeks and prepare students for jobs in fields such as automotive technology, information technology, health care, skilled trades and public safety. The change could affect students at community colleges and other eligible institutions across California, including campuses throughout Southern California and the Inland Empire.

But the California Student Aid Commission, the state agency responsible for administering financial aid, says the state does not yet have the systems in place to launch the program on the federal timeline.

Daisy Gonzales, the commission’s executive director, has said in legislative hearings and in an interview with CalMatters that students likely will not see the new grants until weeks or possibly months after the July 1 start date. Financial aid systems are highly complicated, she said, and California lacks the infrastructure to move that quickly.

The new awards, known as short-term Pell Grants or workforce Pell Grants, are an expansion of the long-running federal Pell Grant program, which provides need-based aid to low-income college students for tuition and living expenses. Until now, students in many brief job training programs generally have not qualified for federal student aid.

Under the new program, eligible students are expected to receive roughly $1,000 to $3,000, though final details are still being worked out. Public and private institutions may qualify if their programs meet federal requirements.

The grants are part of a broader bipartisan effort to connect higher education more directly with employers’ workforce needs. Supporters say the aid could help students quickly gain skills for better-paying jobs. But California’s past experience with publicly funded workforce training has also raised concerns about oversight, job quality and whether students benefit enough from the programs.

CalMatters previously examined how California job centers used federal funds to help low-income and unemployed adults enroll in short-term training programs at for-profit colleges. Public money supported training for careers such as truck driving and nursing assisting, fields that can be associated with low wages, difficult working conditions or high turnover. Some schools receiving students were under investigation for violations, and oversight of many truck-driving schools was limited. Some nursing assistants earned less than $30,000 after completing their programs.

The new federal Pell Grants include rules intended to prevent those problems. Programs must show that graduates earn wages above the federal poverty line and are entering fields considered in demand. Schools also must meet verification requirements. California lawmakers are considering additional restrictions on which programs should be allowed to participate.

A major challenge is that neither state nor federal officials have a comprehensive accounting of short-term workforce programs. That makes it difficult to know how many programs exist or how many students could benefit.

California’s 116 community colleges are likely to be among the main participants because they already offer many job-focused certificate and training programs. But the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office told CalMatters it is too early to estimate how many students might qualify.

One point of comparison is Cal Grant C, a state program for students in career education programs lasting at least 15 weeks. About 225,000 students were potentially eligible this year, according to state data. But Cal Grant C is much smaller than the new federal effort, serving fewer than 7,800 students annually.

In Southern California, college leaders say the aid could be especially important for students facing high housing and living costs.

At Southwestern College in Chula Vista, President Mark Sanchez said many students work full time but still struggle to cover basic expenses. Some students, including U.S. citizens, live across the border in Tijuana because housing is more affordable there and commute to campus in San Diego County.

Sanchez has urged state and local officials to support the new grants, saying they could help students move into higher-paying work. Southwestern College officials estimate about 1,500 students could be eligible across roughly 50 programs, from musicianship to accounting.

To qualify for the grants, colleges will need to prove to state and federal agencies that at least 70% of graduates from eligible programs are employed and earning above the federal poverty line. That requirement could be difficult because the necessary employment and wage data are scattered, incomplete or not collected in some cases.

Su Jin Jez, chief executive of the education nonprofit California Competes, said the state lacks the tools to fully evaluate whether workforce education investments are producing good results. For example, state data may show that a graduate works for a school district and how much that person earns, but not whether the graduate is employed as a teacher, secretary, attorney or custodian.

California Competes is sponsoring two bills this year aimed at improving workforce education accountability. One bill, by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa, would require state workforce agencies to collect more data. Another, by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, would regulate which programs can qualify for the new short-term Pell Grants. Assemblymember Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, is a co-author of Irwin’s bill, and The Institute for College Access & Success is a co-sponsor.

The governor’s office also has proposed emergency legislation with regulations for the new grants. The California Student Aid Commission does not take formal positions on bills, but Gonzales has praised Irwin’s proposal and criticized the governor’s plan, saying it could create a fragmented system.

State officials say they are trying to avoid repeating the problems of a pandemic-era financial aid initiative known as the Learning-Aligned Employment Program. Created by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, that program was intended to provide aid to working students and help them find jobs connected to their studies.

Gonzales, who was then deputy chancellor of the community college system, called the program a failure. It relied on one-time funding and had only three years to succeed, she said, but lacked the professional development and technical support needed to make it work. Few students applied, and lawmakers eventually cut the program.

Nicole Kangas, a spokesperson for the Student Aid Commission, said in a statement that the experience should serve as a warning for the rollout of workforce Pell Grants.

Although Congress approved the expanded Pell Grants last summer, the U.S. Education Department finalized its regulations only last month, leaving states less than two months to prepare before the July 1 launch date. California officials and colleges still must complete a lengthy list of administrative steps, including agreements between the state and individual college districts and universities.

When the Student Aid Commission created similar agreements with universities for the Middle Class Scholarship, Gonzales said, the contracts ran 60 to 120 pages and took about nine months to finalize.

“We really are behind,” Gonzales said, noting that several other states have already adopted legislation. She said new state regulations, including Irwin’s bill, could help California catch up.

Even after the grants become available, college leaders say another hurdle remains: making sure students know the money exists and helping them apply.

Sanchez said Southwestern College will need to reach both current and prospective students with information about the new aid. Many community college students face serious financial hardship, including homelessness, but either do not know about financial aid, are reluctant to apply or submit incomplete applications.

State figures show that less than half of California community college students applied for financial aid last year, and fewer ultimately received it.

Original source: CalMatters

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As a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a pledge to create 500,000 new apprenticeships in the decade after taking office, part of his broader strategy to boost the state’s job programs. 

He’s on track to reach that goal — with about 200,000 apprenticeships so far — according to a press release last month from the governor’s office. 

But a few weeks after that, he cited a new and much larger number. “On the trajectory we’re currently on — this is an actual number — and if you want to have us back into this number, I’m happy to provide that information later: 624,895 apprenticeships, 624,895 that we are currently on track to achieve well beyond the 500,000 by 2029,” he said.

What changed? Nothing, actually. 

The 200,000 figure represents the number of the state’s “registered apprenticeships.” To get registered, the state has certain requirements: most importantly, employers must treat their apprentices as employees, provide them with training, and pay them for the entirety of that training. Most registered apprenticeships are union-led and require years of prior education or work experience. Firefighters, for example, represent the largest apprenticeship program in the state, though the program is hyper selective.

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor, said the 624,895 estimate includes many other jobs programs, none of which are actually apprenticeships, according to the state’s definition. Along with the roughly 200,000 “registered apprenticeships,” the governor’s office counted people who participated in various internships and training programs from the state’s labor and health agencies, such as one grant that taught farmworkers how to increase recycling and composting. Those farmworkers received little, if any, direct compensation as a result of their training. 

Many adults lack the work experience or education to qualify for an apprenticeship, said Stewart Knox, secretary of the California Labor and Workforce and Development Agency. He defended the governor’s recent estimates, saying that these programs, while not “registered apprenticeships,” still offer similar benefits and have fewer barriers to entry. “For me, it’s less about the goal, it’s more about the people we serve.”

Knox said the state is still on track to meet the campaign goal of 500,000 registered apprenticeships.

Billions in public money for job training 

After Newsom’s election in 2018, Brent Parton was part of a team of researchers at New America, a left-leaning think tank, that devised a strategy on how to add 500,000 new apprentices by 2029. In his 2020 report — and in the state’s action plan, which he helped create soon thereafter — the definition was clear: only state-approved or “registered” apprenticeships counted. 

“Are there unregistered apprenticeships? Sure. How many are there? We don’t know because they’re not registered,” he said. “That goal is about growing the registered apprenticeship system.”

In a state-registered apprenticeship, the apprentice is an employee both during and after their training. An official apprenticeship program also agrees to provide participants with a standardized credential at the end of their training, akin to a college degree, that’s transferable for similar kinds of jobs. Yet many of the programs that Newsom cited provide only pieces of that model, such as an internship that doesn’t guarantee a job. 

“The governor is doing the right thing by setting a vision for where he wants to get to. I think the state is going to have to make choices about what’s the universe of programs that it’s including in that,” Parton said. 

Nonetheless, he noted that California has made unprecedented investments in job training over the last few years — a total of $5.7 billion, according to Newsom’s remarks at a recent press conference. Parton said California is one of the few states that gives apprenticeship programs public funds to offset training costs.

“Regardless of what goal was set or where the governor is saying it is, I think what California’s done puts it on a really strong track to get there. Whether it’s 500,000 or 650,000 (apprenticeships), the conditions are really right.”

Trump, Newsom agree: more apprenticeships

Both Democrats and Republicans support expanding apprenticeships, but they disagree about how apprenticeship should be defined. A year before Newsom announced his goal in 2018, President Donald Trump issued an executive order, calling for more apprenticeships across the country as a way to “promote affordable education and rewarding jobs.”

Trump’s order gave employers more discretion to create their own apprenticeships, effectively wresting control away from certain unions and government agencies. Biden rescinded Trump’s order in 2021, while releasing a statement saying that he was expanding apprenticeships too.

While some of the programs that Newsom most recently mentioned aren’t registered apprenticeships, Knox said they were included in the tally because they offer a pathway to access those apprenticeships. He said the governor’s language doesn’t reflect any change in policy. 

One such program, run by the nonprofit Public Works Alliance, used about $11 million in philanthropic and county funds to train roughly 600 youth to become emergency medical technicians and paramedics. The organization received an additional $21 million from the state’s 2022-23 budget to expand the training across the state. 

Unlike an apprenticeship program, the students receive a stipend to attend class and because they’re not employees, graduates must find a job on their own. Alex Briscoe, a principal with the organization, said the employment rate for graduates is about 90% but that the wages for emergency medical technicians are low, about $18 to $24 an hour.

One of the most lucrative options for graduates is to become a firefighter apprentice, where the starting wage is often more than $40 an hour. Certified emergency medical technicians and paramedics get admission priority but that program is so competitive that even qualified candidates often wait years to secure a spot. 

“Many of these young people face barriers to employment,” Briscoe said. Some are current or former foster youth while others have been through the juvenile justice system. The long-term plan, he said, is to partner with the fire department and create new apprenticeships, giving more youth a pathway into a better job. 

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