ED Publishes NPRM to Implement Pell Provisions Enacted Under OBBBA
By Megan Walter, Senior Policy Analyst
The Department of Education (ED) on Monday published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to implement statutory changes to the Pell Grant program enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
The proposed regulations largely reflect the consensus language reached by negotiators during the negotiated rulemaking process, with a few technical clarifications and conforming changes. Comments on the proposed regulations are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, on Wednesday, April 8.
The proposed regulations would create two major policy changes. First, they would establish the new Workforce Pell (WFP) program, allowing Pell Grants to be used for certain short-term workforce training programs offered by eligible institutions. Second, the regulations would implement a provision making students ineligible for a Pell Grant if their non-federal grant or scholarship assistance equals or exceeds their cost of attendance (COA), even if the student was otherwise eligible for the grant.
The NPRM outlines several areas where the department is seeking public input from stakeholders.
Among the issues raised for comment, ED requests feedback on how to prevent institutions from potentially circumventing the new statutory limit on Pell Grant eligibility when non-federal grant or scholarship assistance exceeds a student’s COA. Under the proposed regulations, a student would be ineligible for Pell if non-federal aid equals or exceeds COA, but could still receive the full Pell Grant if that aid falls even just one dollar below COA.
ED notes that this could incentivize institutions to structure aid packages just below COA or to use professional judgment to slightly increase the COA to preserve Pell Grant eligibility. As a result, the department is seeking input on alternative approaches to prevent “gaming” of this provision, such as additional reporting requirements, oversight, or enforcement mechanisms.
ED is also requesting input on whether institutions would have sufficient visibility into students’ non-federal assistance and have the administrative resources and technical ability to comply with a proposed requirement that Pell Grants be returned if a school learns before the final Pell disbursement that outside aid equals or exceeds the student’s cost of attendance.
Related to WFP, feedback is requested on the department’s proposed framework for measuring workforce program outcomes. Because official earnings metrics cannot be calculated until the 2030-31 award year, ED is considering establishing an interim earnings measure to evaluate program performance during the early years of implementation.
ED is also seeking input on how to define the group of students included in earnings calculations, whether additional student categories should be excluded from the cohort used to measure outcomes, and how many years of program completers should be combined to ensure a sufficient sample size for evaluating program performance.
Lastly, ED proposed clarifications to establish specific technical boundaries for the new provisions. Key updates include defining "non-federal assistance" to exclude what the Higher Education Act (HEA) excludes from “Other Financial Assistance”, such as tax credits, 529 plans, and emergency aid.
Regarding WFP, although the statute specifies that eligible WFP programs must last at least 8 weeks but fewer than 15 weeks, ED clarified in the NPRM that, in practice, this effectively limits programs to no more than 14 weeks. The Department goes on to reference how a week of instructional time is defined under 34 CFR 668.3, which says “a week of instructional time is any week in which at least one day of regularly scheduled instruction or examinations occurs”, meaning that any program lasting 14 weeks and 1 day (or more) would be counted as 15 weeks, violating the OBBBA statutory program length requirement.
ED also clarified that non-credit or reduced-credit remedial coursework cannot be used to determine enrollment intensity or COA for credit-hour WFP programs. Additionally, the proposal confirms that while students with baccalaureate degrees are eligible for WFP, those who have already earned or are currently pursuing a graduate-level credential, such as a master’s, professional degree, or graduate certificate, remain ineligible.
NASFAA plans to submit comments on the proposed regulations and will publish a draft version in Today’s News ahead of the comment deadline, allowing members to review the feedback and draw on it as they develop their own comments. The NPRM covering the accountability provisions will be released separately in late May or early June.
Members seeking additional context may wish to review NASFAA’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act Web Center, NASFAA’s Negotiated Rulemaking Web Center, as well as NASFAA’s AHEAD Committee webinar, all of which offer a deeper discussion of the provisions included in this NPRM.
Publication Date: 3/9/2026
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