SACSCOC Workforce Initiative

SACSCOC Launches Major Workforce Alignment Initiative Engaging Colleges and Universities

By Anvi Goyal
SACSCOC Workforce Communications Intern

Employers along South Carolina’s Grand Strand depend on a workforce prepared for careers in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, public safety, and skilled trades. Meeting those needs requires close collaboration between education and industry. Horry-Georgetown Technical College (HGTC) has embraced that role for decades. 

The institution, located in Conway, S.C., is one of the largest technical colleges in the state and has aligned many of its academic and workforce training programs with regional needs. That strategy is reflected in the institution’s steady improvement in student outcomes, including an increase in graduation rates from 18% in 2014 to 38% in 2024. More than one-quarter of awarded credentials are in health-related fields, reflecting continued demand for healthcare professionals across the region. 

The gains are particularly notable because many HGTC students are first-time, in-state college students. A significant reason for these impacts is the institute’s focus on workforce development partnerships with local employers.

HGTC’s industry partnerships benefit enrolled students, partner employers, and job training service providers. In addition to academic programs, HGTC provides job training opportunities with local companies and industries through platforms such as Ed2Go online training, Quick Jobs programs, and Apprenticeship Carolina. Over the last decade, the school has seen a 706% increase in the number of training certificates it awards. The institute offers online classes and career training programs, as well as short-term training programs designed for emerging and leading fields in Computer and IT, Health Care, Manufacturing and Trade, and Business. Some of these tie-ups with Carolina-based specialized training and apprenticeship programs also allow hands-on learning in construction, plumbing, golf-course management, and several other fields. HGTC’s workforce development partnerships with the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation and the WorkReady SC initiative also support student- and resident-owned businesses and start-ups operating in South Carolina and partner with corporations that provide training to job creators and new organizations. 

HGTC’s website states that 90% of all enrolled students from the institute’s establishment through today work in Horry and Georgetown Counties as part of the local workforce. Trends also suggest that HGTC students’ community economic impact exceeds $55 million each year. These figures therefore demonstrate how technical colleges’ workforce development commitments can both provide employment opportunities and cultivate specific skills highly sought after locally. These upward enrollment and employment trends from HGTC’s workforce development commitments positively reflect the individual and community-level economic impact of sustained university partnerships with local industries and employers.  

By Anvi Goyal
SACSCOC Workforce Communications Intern

Colleges and universities across the country are working to align academic programs with workforce needs, but many are still figuring out how best to do so. Results from SACSCOC’s Workforce Initiative Survey provide a clear snapshot of where institutions are making progress, and where they face challenges. 

The Workforce Initiative survey responses can tell us a great deal about the higher education institutes’ endeavors and challenges in bridging the gap between education and workforce needs. This is the first step in the Workforce Initiative’s aim in addressing gaps between education and labor market needs. Earlier this year, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) launched an initiative—in partnership with Lumina Foundation—to reconcile college and university education and the evolving workforce requirements. The Workforce Initiative brings together member universities and university systems to collaboratively find solutions and align academic programs across the nation. The survey initiates in 

identifying education and labor market needs by gathering data from member higher education systems and institutions. 

The Workforce Initiative Survey saw a phenomenal response rate with responses from more than over 111 institutions and 9 Systems across the United States. Out of these institutes, 80% are public institutes with 42% of the institutes being Level I or Associate level institutes, and 39% are Level V and VI institutes offering doctorate degrees. Some of the most striking findings show that only half of these institutes identify their current approach in aligning workforce programs with national, regional, state, and/or local workforce needs as moderately structured. While institutes express the need for more data driven and innovative ways to align workforce programs with needs, out of 109, only 24 institutes indicate their approach as highly systematic and data-driven. 

Many institutions – about 80% – have already begun implementing workforce-focused initiatives such as stackable certificates, short-term credentials, and industry certifications. However, fewer are routinely conducting workforce gap analyses to help determine whether these programs align with labor market demand. The survey responses highlight that only half of both the member systems and institutes are conducting gap analyses comparing workforce needs with program offerings. The survey also reveals the current initiatives that tackle workforce development. All of the systems and about 80% of the institutes claim that they are currently developing short-term workforce-focused credentials. However, very few are conducting regular, annual gap analyses which are required to identify and align offerings with national and regional needs. The current initiatives focus on industry-based certifications embedded in academic curriculum, academic certificates, stackable credentials, and micro-credentials. 

What challenges do these institutions face in effectively addressing workforce needs? We find that 73% of the institutes and more than over 50% of the university systems recognize resource or staffing constraints as the major challenge that they currently face in responding to national, regional, state, and/or local workforce needs. These are followed by other potential roadblocks such as long program approval timelines, limited capacity for data analysis and limited employer partnerships. 

A key component of the Initiative is the creation of a Workforce Coordinator Network, with member institutions to address the above mentioned challenges. This Network will allow the coordinators to participate and work collaboratively to develop useful tools and program design strategies. When asked about the kinds of support that the institutes would find the most valuable, a high percentage suggest aid in creating program templates and toolkits and employer engagement models. These findings give us a picture about institutes’ current challenges and needs, thus allowing us to better develop and strengthen workforce pathways for the future.

By Anvi Goyal
SACSCOC Workforce Communications Intern

One institution participating in SACSCOC’s Workforce Initiative survey offered a candid assessment of its biggest challenge. 

A participating Workforce Initiative institute comments, “We are under-resourced and therefore lack staffing (faculty) capacity to innovate in how workforce is supported.” 

That sentiment was echoed by many other respondents across the survey. Many other such comments received through the Workforce Initiative survey revealed the major roadblocks that higher ed institutions face today in meeting national and local workforce needs. This survey, conducted under the two-year Workforce Initiative supported by a Lumina Foundation grant, gathered responses from over 100 institutions and systems nationwide.

Of these, 73 percent of institutions and 56 percent of member systems cite constraints in acquiring resources and staff as obstacles to meeting workforce needs. The findings suggest that many institutions understand the importance of workforce development, but face practical limitations in expanding their efforts. The challenges that an alarming number of these institutes indicate serve as a wake-up call to all education and workforce governing bodies.

Many of these institutions also indicate the lack of space and equipment necessary to expand new and existing workforce development programs. High-skilled programs in STEM, such as healthcare and engineering, require hands-on training and the use of equipment and other resources. 

Addressing this, an institution suggests that “Many programs that would be ideal for the institution and address workforce needs are resource-heavy.” 

Another respondent observed: “It is no surprise that the declining external funding heavily impacts the lack of resources and staffing that universities face today. Indeed, as one partner institute suggests, “You have to have room for workforce programs, room for labs, and funding for equipment.” Moreover, “On the healthcare side, clinical space, faculty availability, accreditation standards, and space for expansion” are required to develop effective programs to meet workforce needs.

How external funding is allocated and utilized is also an important factor. Funding allocated to garner workforce development growth is often dedicated to programmatic and delivery needs. Whereas “administrative infrastructure necessary to accompany that growth,” as one of the respondents rightly comments, is sometimes overlooked. 

External changes, beyond funding, such as the ever-evolving job market, affect the steps institutions can take toward workforce development programs. The questions the survey’s findings generate, therefore, are: how can institutions, especially publicly funded institutions, respond simultaneously to the agile job market while facing and reduced funding? What innovative means can these institutes develop to meet new workforce needs? Are innovative programs enough to battle the resource and staff shortages?

Recognizing these challenges is one of the reasons SACSCOC launched the Workforce Initiative to help member institutions share strategies, strengthen partnerships, and develop practical approaches that better align education with workforce needs. 

By Anvi Goyal
SACSCOC Workforce Communications Intern

The Workforce Pell Grant program, introduced last year by the U.S. Department of Education, is one of the most significant investments in short-term workforce education in recent years. The Workforce Pell Grant (WFP) extends the Federal Pell Grant, a needs-based subsidy that has helped students cover the costs of traditional degree programs. WFP assists low-income students in obtaining credentials through non-degree programs and supports their efforts to improve or change their career paths by providing short-term, career-focused training. These training programs qualify for federal funding as long as they are offered by an accredited college or university.

What you need to know about the Workforce Pell Grant Program:

The WFP is expected to enroll approximately 100,000 individuals. Eligible Programs offered by accredited universities should be 8-15 week programs with 150-599 clock hours (or 7.5 to 29.5 credit hours). These programs must be for high-demand, U.S. Department of Education approved jobs such as healthcare, Information Technology, skilled trades, and truck driving (CDL). These credits are “portable” which means that they are recognized by multiple employers. They are also “stackable” so that traditional credit-hour degree programs can be paired with training programs. According to the guidelines, programs should also meet a 70 x 70 rule where there is a 70% completion rate and 70% job placement rate. A value-added earnings test would determine whether the median graduate earnings exceeds the program’s tuition and fees and is 150% of the federal poverty level. Furthermore, the WFP cannot be awarded alongside traditional Pell Grants. 

The good news is that students with bachelor’s degrees can apply for WFP. Applicants must show financial need through FAFSA, similar to applying for a Pell Grant. Grant amounts are based on program length and intensity, with an estimated range of about $1800-$2500. Institutions must ensure that non-credit training programs can transition to either clock-hour or credit-based credentials. Both accredited institutions and accreditors need to ensure these programs are available and accessible to low-income participants while following USDE guidelines.

A USDE press release about the new WFP states that the “Workforce Pell bridges the gap between education and employment by allowing Pell Grants to be used for workforce training programs that prepare individuals for immediate employment in as little as 8 weeks.” 

The Workforce Pell Grant program is still in its early stages, and its long-term impact will depend on institutional participation, student demand, and program outcomes. Even so, it represents an important step toward expanding access to workforce-focused education.