The Indiana Commission for Higher Education is restricting new applications for a popular workforce grant, as demand outpaces available funding.
Indiana’s Workforce Ready Grant allows Hoosiers to earn high-growth industry credentials for free, but will be limited to returning students and independent students for the coming school year.
CHE notified colleges of the change via email last week, citing a state law directing the commission to prioritize independent students when demand exceeds available funds.
Federal financial aid rules define an independent student as adults who are at least 24 years old, as well as married students, parents or active duty service members.
Dependent students will remain eligible if they received at least $1 in Workforce Ready grants last school year and have not exhausted their grant.
The change is due to high demand for industry credentials, which threatens to exhaust available funds for Workforce Ready grants covering tuition for Hoosiers pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing, health sciences and transportation and logistics.
Enrollment in Workforce Ready-eligible programs surpassed 4,500 in fiscal year 2026, more than doubling the 2,200 grants awarded in fiscal year 2020, according to CHE spokesperson Allison Kuehr.
At the same time, Kuehr said expenditures went from $4.5 million to $9.5 million, with claims forecasted to exceed appropriations in fiscal year 2027.
The state appropriated $5.7 million a year in its most recent biennial budget.
CHE advised colleges to prioritize returning students first, regardless of their status as dependent or independent, followed by first-time applications from independent students to preserve funding for the 2062-27 school year, Kuehr said.
“This approach ensures funding is prioritized in accordance with state law,” she said.
Ivy Tech Community College, which handles the bulk of the grants, is reviewing financial aid, scholarships and payment plans for students newly ineligible for the grants, said Annie Goeller, assistant vice president for communications and public affairs at Ivy Tech.
Goeller said the college identified 267 first-time dependent students registered for the fall semester who otherwise would have qualified.
The community college enrolled 3,942 students who qualified for Workforce Ready grants last school year, Goeller said, which amounts to a 61% increase from four years earlier.
The school is a popular choice given its roster of short- and long-term certificates in fields like biopharmaceutical manufacturing, automation and robotics and civil construction.
Indiana residents who are eligible for state financial aid and have earned a high school diploma or the equivalent can earn one of these credentials for free through Next Level Jobs Indiana, which is funded by Workforce Ready.
Certificates typically require 18 to 30 credit hours, which Goeller said can be finished within two to four semesters.
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