NHA News Center

The National Healthcareer Association (NHA), an Ascend Learning brand and the largest allied health certification agency in the United States, has submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in response to its Proposed Rules to Implement Working Families Tax Cuts Act’s Workforce Pell Grants. NHA underscored the need for clear, efficient processes to expand access to high-quality, accredited short-term healthcare training programs that prepare students for the workforce and enable them to be job-ready immediately upon program completion.

Congressional Budget Process

The federal budget process directly shapes which resources are available to support students, classrooms, and schools. Federal funding streams, including Workforce Pell Grants and Title VII grant programs, are all determined through annual budget decisions made by Congress. Funding increases can expand services and access, while cuts can force programs to make tough trade-offs or lead to program elimination altogether.

Our nation is facing critical shortages in the healthcare workforce. While you, your teams, and your students are doing their part to fill those gaps, policymakers must do their part in addressing this crisis as well.

If you work in healthcare today, you know what the data shows: allied health professionals are the backbone of our system. They make up 60% of the U.S. healthcare workforce—over five million people—and directly shape patient access, care quality, and operational efficiency.

While Congress works on setting its budget for the year, NHA strongly supports continued full federal funding for CTE and Job Corps programs. These dollars help programs serve more students, expand career opportunities, and keep their doors open. 

In a recent LinkedIn post, Kurt Burkum, Senior Director of Government Relations at Ascend Learning, shares his insights on the upcoming new Workforce Pell program. His post covers who this program will benefit, and what implementation will likely involve. This includes highlighting how Workforce Pell can support short-term, career-focused training for learners aiming to join the healthcare workforce. 

In a recent letter to the editor published in NOLA.com, Claire Jecklin, CEO of the New Orleans Career Center (NOCC), highlights the importance of expanding Pell Grant eligibility to include skills-based credentialing programs and certification programs. These short-term programs are key to expand opportunities for learners to advance their careers, grow the allied health professional workforce, and improve the quality of patient care.

In ACTE’s SmartBrief Education, Courtney Guidry, Director of Work-Based Learning at the New Orleans Career Center (NOCC), outlines how innovative workforce pipelines can help address the nation’s healthcare staffing crisis. With growing shortages of nurses, medical assistants, and patient care technicians, NOCC, in partnership with NHA, has developed a sustainable model that connects high school students and adults to careers in allied health. In 2023 alone, more than 160 trainees earned industry-recognized NHA certifications, helping local providers fill critical staffing gaps.

The first-ever HOSA-Future Health Professionals Patient Care Technician (PCT) competition was launched last fall to prepare students for in-demand real-world roles in patient care. NHA helped to support and develop this program as part of our broader mission to elevate allied health careers and support students with certification pathways that lead to success in high-demand, high-impact jobs.