Workforce Pell Program Enablement

New capabilities allow you to identify and package eligible students for the Workforce Pell Grant within Student Financial Aid (SFA). Under recent One Big Beautiful Bill updates, starting with the 2026-27 Award Year students may qualify for Workforce Pell if enrolled in programs that meet specific criteria: programs must be between 150-600 clock hours (or the credit hour equivalent), run for 8-15 weeks, be approved by the State Governor, and address in-demand jobs and employer needs. It is important to note that students cannot receive both the regular Pell and Workforce Pell Grant simultaneously, and schools are required to notify ED that the student is enrolled in a Workforce Pell eligible program and what the associated tuition and fees are.

To facilitate compliance and streamline awarding, the SFA solution allows you to configure and automate the required ISIR corrections, automated packaging of Pell, and allows you to set the required data for accurate reporting to COD.

Reporting Eligible Programs via ISIR Corrections

You can configure ISIR Discrepancy logic that will automate an ISIR correction starting with the 2026-27 Award Year to set the new ISIR "Enrolled in Eligible Workforce Program Indicator" field (ISIR Field Number 567 based on Draft ISIR Specs) if a student is enrolled within a program that is eligible. 

  • Update ISIR_DISCREP.cvs to add a row for the new ISIR field (PROCESSING_ENROLLEDINELIGIBLEWORKFORCEPROGRAMINDICATOR) and include logic within Discrepancy_Evaluation_Script to see if the student enrolled in a Workforce Pell eligible program.
    • ISIR_Field: PROCESSING_ENROLLEDINELIGIBLEWORKFORCEPROGRAMINDICATOR
    • Discrepancy_Evaluation_Script:
      • If Student is in Program x (where x is s Workforce Pell Eligible Program), 
        • discrepancyEvaluationResult.hasDiscrepancy = true
        • discrepancyEvaluationResult.correctedValue = 1
    • Aid_Year: 2026-2027
    • Manual_Discrepancy_Clear_Req: FALSE
  • Note, ISIR automation will only trigger for new ISIRs received after the configuration is updated. If there are already students whose ISIRs are in SFA for the 2026-27 Award Year and are eligible for Workforce Pell, you will need to identify the population and make manual ISIR corrections.

Packaging Workforce Pell

Once an ISIR correction has been received for the student, a repackage is triggered and will now award the student Pell due to the ISIR indicating that the student is Pell eligible.

Reporting Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees to COD

Within packaging, you now have the ability to set the "Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees" that must be communicated to COD within FAS_FUND_CONFIG.csv.

  • Updates allows you to set "Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees" by using pellAwardInfo.withWorkforcePellTuitionAndFees() within either the existing Awarding_Override_Criteria or within a new OB3_ Criteria groovy script. 
  • This value will be set and presented within Packaging > Fund Eligibility > Pell

If you do not set this value in configuration or would like to edit the amount prior to originating, user with existing "Package Fund Edit" permission can set the Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees field in the UI

  • Within the Packaging > Add/Edit > Pell, a new editable field for "Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees" was added on a per payment period/ term basis
    • For this new field, you are able to add a value from 0-999999999.99 (12 total characters including decimal)
    • Entering an invalid value will trigger a validation error that informs the user of the issue
    • You are able to subsequently edit the field and remove the value, as needed

When communicating with COD, the value set will be sent for the new <WorkforcePellTuitionAndFees> field within the disbursement block when originating and disbursing.

Reporting Improvements

  • "Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees" set in configuration or via the Packaging UI is be accessible through reporting and extract views

Business Value

This feature helps institutions efficiently comply with new Workforce Pell requirements by simplifying the identification, packaging, and reporting process. It reduces manual effort where possible and supports accurate federal aid delivery to eligible students in workforce-focused programs.

Here's the demo of these capabilities:

Steps to enable and configure

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Student Financial Aid

Update Configuration Scripts:

  • Review your current configuration for ISIR processing to ensure alignment with Workforce Pell Program requirements for the 2026-27 award year.
    • To get started, ensure that "Configuration Administration" Permission is enabled and download your existing configuration from Oracle Student Financial Aid within Administration > Configuration Administration > Download.
    • This configuration will include the pre-populated system data relevant to the new year, which you can then update as needed.
      • Update ISIR_DISCREP.csv to add a row for the new ISIR field (PROCESSING_ENROLLEDINWORKFORCEPROGRAMINDICATOR) and include logic within Discrepancy_Evaluation_Script to see if the student enrolled in a Workforce Pell eligible program.
      • Update FAS_FUND_CONFIG.csv, Awarding_Override_Criteria or OB3_Criteria for Pell to return pellAwardInfo.withWorkforcePellTuitionAndFees()
    • If you updated your configuration, navigate to Administration > Configuration Administration, and upload your zipped configuration

ISIR Corrections:

  • Since ISIR automation will only trigger for new ISIRs received after the configuration is updated. If there are already students whose ISIRs are in SFA for the 2026-27 Award Year and are eligible for Workforce Pell, you will need to identify the population and make manual ISIR corrections.

Submission to COD:

  • When you are ready to begin awarding and originating Pell for the 2026-27 Award Year, follow the steps to enable within 2026-2027 Award Year Packaging Updates and 2026-2027 Award Year COD File Updates.

Tips and considerations

  • Logic Customization Needed: Institutions wishing to automate ISIR corrections for Pell Workforce eligible students and automate "Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees" COD reporting, will need to update configuration. As this is institution-specific and no baseline configuration is delivered.
  • Monitor and Maintain: Consider creating a report to identify students who are Workforce Pell Eligible and ensure that the appropriate ISIR corrections have been sent, Pell is packaged, and that the Workforce Pell Tuition and Fees have been set prior to originating 2026-27 Pell.

Key resources