BACKGROUND

A product of the 2016 Session of the General Assembly, the New Economy Workforce Credential Grant (WCG) Program represents the nation’s first pay-for-performance model for funding noncredit workforce training that leads to a credential in a high-demand field. Using a two-pronged approach, the WCG works to increase program completion and credential attainment by incentivizing both the provision of noncredit programs in certain institutions of higher education (IHEs) and enrollment by Virginia residents.

The enabling legislation tasks the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) with administering and monitoring the WCG, as well as reporting on annual progress to the General Assembly and the Virginia Workforce Development Board (VWDB, or the Board). The following report provides a review of enrollments, completions, costs, and outcomes across the Commonwealth over the past fiscal year, from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.

Summary of Findings for FY 2024

Over the course of the fiscal year (FY 2024), 23 institutions offered WCG training aligned to 12 high-demand occupational fields as identified by the VWDB. Observations from FY 2024 include:

• Collectively, institutions enrolled 15,753 program participants in FY 2024, a 17% increase from FY 2023 and the most since the program’s inception.

• Of these participants, 14,864, or 94% completed training. Among program completers, 10,887, or 69% reported earning a credential. Compared with FY2023, rates of both completion and credential attainment dipped slightly, by 0.6% and 1.6% respectively.

• All racial and ethnic groups share high program completion rates, but gaps exist in credential completion: 63% of Hispanic enrollees earned their credential, 6 points below the program average of 69%. Whereas the credentialing rate among all Black or African American students was 10 percentage points below the average at 59%.

• Across programs, students paid an average of $882 under WCG, with an average price per credential to the state of $1,968.

• Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) programs continued to see the highest number of enrollments, with students representing 19% of all WCG participants for FY 2024. Medical Assistant programs had the second highest enrollment rates, accounting for 5% of all enrollments in FY 2024.

• Since WCG launched in 2017, median annual wages for program participants have by increased $10,551, or 50%, in the 12 months following program completion.

• Two-thirds of FY 2024 enrollments were by first-time postsecondary students. The median age among participants was 32 years old.