California Unanimously Passes Student Protections for Workforce Pell

TICAS applauds the California Legislature for the unanimous passage of AB 1534, which establishes strong program approval processes and additional student protections for the new federal Workforce Pell Grant Program. As a co-sponsor of the legislation, we celebrate this important step in ensuring that California students can use their Pell Grants on high-quality programs that lead to improved outcomes.

The following statement can be attributed to Emmanuel Rodriguez, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy, California at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS).

“The Golden State has long been a national leader in expanding college access and affordability while also prioritizing student protections against low-quality programs – and the passage of AB 1534 continues that tradition.

“California will now have a strong, deliberative process for approving affordable, high-quality programs so that eligible students can use their Workforce Pell grant with more confidence.

“Pell recipients cannot afford to exhaust their limited lifetime grant eligibility on opportunities that don’t pay off. The safeguards in AB 1534 are designed to better ensure short-term programs lead to career pathways that result in real economic mobility, not empty credentials.

“This is a win for California students and a model for the nation. We applaud the legislature for taking the lead, including Author Jacqui Irwin, Coauthor Juan Alanis, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, and Senate President Pro-Tempore Monique Limon. Now, we call on Governor Newsom to sign the bill as soon as possible.”

What AB 1534 Does:

AB 1534 establishes key safeguards for California’s college students enrolling in short-term programs that are participating in the new federal Workforce Pell Grant program. These safeguards will help ensure that students use their limited Pell eligibility on programs that deliver real value and improve their employment prospects, rather than programs that consume valuable financial aid without providing a meaningful pathway to economic mobility.

The bill:

• Caps the maximum cost for students.
• Prohibits colleges from offering, partnering with, or endorsing private lenders for covering costs.
• Requires disclosure and transparency about the role of any third party, such as an online program manager (OPM) in delivering the education, bans incentive-based compensation and tuition-sharing with such parties, and prohibiting them from holding a governance or decision-making role.