Could The Trump Admin’s New Grant Program Disrupt Higher Education?

A federal grant program tailored towards the trades being adopted across the United States may help reshape higher education as millions of Americans go back to school.

North Carolina became the fifth state to be approved by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for Workforce Pell (WFP) grants Friday, paving the way for more Americans to receive federal funds for pursuing career and technical education (CTE), according to a press release.

WFP’s implementation, which began July 1, 2026, under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act signed July 4, 2026, by President Donald Trump, comes after around 60% of American adults aged between 18-28 surveyed by ResumeTemplates.com in October 2025 reported they have considered pivoting towards the trades as opposed to traditional higher education.

“Workforce Pell is finally a reality after decades of debate—opening new doors for students across the nation,” ED spokesperson Ellen Keast told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This landmark student aid program is designed to move beyond the outdated college‑for‑all model and expand access to in-demand, workforce‑focused credentials that can be completed quickly and at lower cost.”

Thanks to @POTUS‘ @TaxCuts, Workforce Pell is creating new pathways for America’s next generation, because education and training looks different for everyone! pic.twitter.com/b3dyKRiDIP

— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) September 15, 2026

Some of the covered CTE programs could help individuals attain employment in as quickly as eight weeks, according to a May press release by ED.

Adam Kissel, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, told the DCNF that many students who choose a bachelor’s degree and fail to graduate “would have been better off pursuing a short-term credential.”

“Fast, inexpensive, targeted credentials are much less liable to ideological indoctrination and are far better than spending many years outside of the workforce partying instead of graduating,” Kissel said.

Approximately 4.1 million community college students are enrolled in noncredit offerings, according to a study by the Rutgers-New Brunswick School of Management and Labor Relations published in February 2025. Such programs can “adjust quickly as industry needs change” and also “give current and future workers inexpensive credentials that are useful across these workers’ whole industries,” Kissel wrote in an August 2026 report for the Heritage Foundation.

Kissel also told the DCNF that WFP options will “grow substantially.”