This Op-ed was originally published in American Association of Community Colleges' CC Daily here.

Short-term, career-focused programs have been growing faster than the data to measure them. Estimates from Credential Engine and the Harvard Workforce Almanac suggest there are now roughly 1.5 million unique non-degree credentials offered by about 20,000 issuers across the country. According to the Strada Education Foundation, more than 80 million Americans hold non-degree credentials.

That’s a lot of people, and a lot of programs, spanning the full spectrum of higher education and workforce development: community colleges, of course, but also four-year institutions, nonprofit and for-profit training providers, industry groups and employers. The result is a vibrant but fragmented marketplace, full of innovation yet thin on evidence about which programs truly deliver for learners.

Thanks to the passage of Workforce Pell, that may be about to change. Tucked into Congress’s higher education package this summer and soon to be open for public comment after the recent wrap-up of the rulemaking process, the program extends Pell Grant eligibility to short-term, career-aligned programs that meet clear thresholds for employment and earnings. It’s a big step toward aligning financial aid with outcomes, rewarding programs that create real economic opportunity and asking colleges to back their innovation with evidence.

Right timing

Workforce Pell couldn’t have come at a better time. Demographic shifts are shrinking enrollments. Public funding is tightening. Policymakers and employers are demanding clearer returns on investment, even as workforce shortages persist across industries and skill levels. In that environment, Workforce Pell isn’t just another reform. It signals that the next phase of growth must be grounded in evidence and that accountability will now sit alongside innovation. To qualify for these new funds, community colleges — the institutions leading this work — will have to demonstrate that their programs lead to family-sustaining jobs and measurable returns for learners.

This moment offers a chance to bring coherence to a fast-growing field: to separate promise from proof and build the data foundation that has long been missing for non-degree programs. Still, there’s uncertainty about how this will happen. The law defines what colleges must demonstrate — job placement and earnings outcomes — but not how. Even basic questions of program eligibility remain unsettled, making it critical for colleges to start gathering the data they’ll need to understand where they stand and to build, or partner for, the capacity to meet these new expectations.

What colleges can do

Here’s what institutions can do to make it happen.

First, invest in data infrastructure, whether developed internally or externally. Workforce Pell will require institutions to track completion, employment and earnings outcomes — a big shift for many colleges that are running many of their workforce program data collection efforts outside their traditional SIS tools. Building that data infrastructure will be essential not just for compliance but for insight. With the right data connections, colleges can finally see which programs actually create economic mobility and which need rethinking.

Second, deepen employer partnerships. The best-performing programs will be those aligned with real hiring demand and designed to meet the workforce needs that today’s economy still struggles to fill. Community colleges that already collaborate closely with local industries are ahead, but Workforce Pell makes those relationships indispensable. Employers must be more than advisory board members; they need to be co-designers of programs that lead directly to good jobs.

Third, don’t “teach to the test.” Workforce Pell is a catalyst for institutions to strengthen their data collection capacity and outcomes measurement, but there’s no reason for institutions to limit that effort to programs that are eligible for Pell funding. The colleges that make the most of this opportunity won’t be the ones that contort themselves to design new programs – or change existing programs – in order to meet all its specific technical rules. They will use the data infrastructure galvanized by Workforce Pell to support their strategic priorities and ultimately improve all their programs, whether or not they fit the mold of the new law.

Recognizing the potential

This first iteration of Workforce Pell will support a small part of the vast non-degree credential universe. If postsecondary institutions get this right, there may be an opportunity in the future for Congress to support a broader variety of programs that produce results for learners and employers alike. If that were to happen, this moment will have represented an inflection point in America’s journey to open up pathways to opportunity to far more Americans.

If institutions make the most of the moment, Workforce Pell could bring clarity to a fast-growing corner of higher education. Programs that deliver measurable value will rise, and those that fall short will have a chance to learn and adapt. For learners, employers, and policymakers alike, that transparency could be transformative, replacing anecdotes with evidence and hype with hard data.

For the community colleges that embrace this change, it’s an opportunity to expand what “success” means in higher education, building on traditional measures like graduation and completion to include the outcomes that matter most to learners and employers alike.

Workforce Pell wasn’t inevitable; it almost didn’t happen. Its passage reflects a rare bipartisan recognition that expanding opportunity means funding what works. Now, it’s up to higher education to demonstrate impact, not by chasing compliance but by showing what’s possible.

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