Different States, Different Systems: Noncredit Workforce Investment Policies in Practice

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

This roundtable ties directly to this year’s conference theme by bringing together workforce policy researchers and practitioners who are implementing workforce training policy in markedly different ways. Their varied experiences will give attendees practical insight into how diverse state policies and implementation choices differ: What gets funded and how? What works, what doesn't, and how do we know?  As federal Workforce Pell approaches implementation, attention is increasingly turning to noncredit, short-term workforce programs. This roundtable will help attendees learn from diverse practical experiences while contributing questions and discussion that can inform future research and policy. Noncredit higher education plays a critical yet underrecognized role in the United States workforce system, delivering short-term, skills-based training that responds rapidly to employer demand and supports economic mobility for adult learners. Despite its demonstrated value, noncredit workforce education remains unevenly funded and structurally marginalized within state and federal higher education finance systems that overwhelmingly prioritize credit-bearing degrees. This roundtable examines how differing state policy choices shape the scale, sustainability, and equity of noncredit workforce education. States vary substantially in how they implement workforce development policies and leverage national funding opportunities. Speakers in this proposal bring insights from diverse state contexts aligned with the conference’s theme of “State Policy Variations and Impacts.” In New Mexico, recent legislative appropriations embed noncredit workforce education within higher education and workforce ecosystems, providing colleges flexible funding to rapidly design and scale programs aligned with labor market needs. Arizona, by contrast, relies almost exclusively on federal workforce funding streams such as WIOA, resulting in fragmented financing, limited capacity, and uneven regional access. Virginia represents a comprehensive approach, with over ten years of positive results from investments in the nationally recognized FastForward program meeting workforce needs in healthcare and skilled trades, but without consistently integrating noncredit education into a stable statewide funding formula, impacting long-term sustainability. Collectively, these states reveal a consistent national pattern in which the absence of predictable state investment in noncredit workforce education limits program scale, creates cost and access barriers for adult learners, and ties outcomes to short-term federal funding cycles rather than a coherent long-term state strategy, reflecting a broader misalignment between workforce system design and the funding of skills-based education essential for competitiveness and equity. Speakers will present their state’s perspective and policy actions illustrating how funding structures influence program development, employer engagement, and changing student demographics, particularly among adult learners, low-income residents, veterans, and displaced workers. To actively engage attendees, the moderator will anchor discussion with provocative framing questions following each case, including: “If our workforce needs skills in months—not years—why do we fund only degrees?” and “Should public funding follow students’ needs or institutional traditions?” By centering practitioner perspectives alongside policy analysis, this session invites participants to grapple with the structural choices facing states and the federal government. The discussion aims to generate actionable insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners seeking to modernize higher education finance and recognize noncredit education as essential infrastructure for workforce resilience, economic growth, and social equity.

Policy Area

• Education

Moderator

• Michael Alexander Cooper, WestEd

Organizer

• Monique Anair, Santa Fe Community College

Speakers

• Monique Anair, Santa Fe Community College

• Ana Varela Greif, San Juan College

• John M. Martinez, MDRC