The workforce training will make students ‘very, very marketable,’ DeSantis said.
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Florida is opening up federal financial aid to be spent on short-term workforce training to help workers land in-demand careers, state officials announced.
“The short-term programs eligible for Workforce Pell will allow students to earn a career credential with little to no debt while strengthening the state’s workforce pipeline to allow students to earn a credential in as little as eight weeks,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne.
DeSantis was joined by the state’s new Education Commissioner Henry Mack, who had previously been the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor before his new state role.
DeSantis tasked Mack to lead Florida’s implementation of the Workforce Pell Grant, which has been a priority under President Donald Trump.
In May, the U.S. Department of Education announced a new rule to allow students to access the Pell Grants for short-term educational programs — not just at traditional higher education institutions offering degrees.
“Florida is not interested in using these taxpayer dollars to incent dead-end credentials. We are not approving the eligibility of credentials that lead to nowhere. We want credentials that matter, that have value on the other side of the equation,” Mack said.
DeSantis and Mack touted the training program for high-wage, in-demand fields as helping boost Florida’s economy.
“You’re talking about machinery, defense applications, things that are going to make these students very, very marketable,” DeSantis said. “And part of the reason we’re doing this, of course, is to give students more opportunity to have productive lives, but it’s also something writ large for our economy that’s important.”
Mack also added more careers, listing “certified production technology, CNC machinists, rapid prototype specialist, automation, lean manufacturing, electronics aide, aluminum welding and fabrication, marine electrician, professional research diving, CDL, aviation mechanic, and certainly last but not least, many of our first responder programs, firefighters, EMT — critical occupations.”
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