New legislation to expand Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled in short-term skills and job training programs has wide support in Congress, even though it excludes students attending these programs online, a provision some community college leaders and online education advocates call a mistake. The legislation, which the House of Representatives passed Feb. 4, now heads to conference committee, where legislators will hammer out a final bill. The bill passed the Senate last year, but without an amendment the House bill included, which contains the Pell Grant–expansion language. The language calls for allowing Pell Grants to apply to any short-term program with “at least 150 clock hours of instruction time over a period of at least 8 weeks” as long as it is not primarily delivered online.
