Workforce One Investment Act?


This Question From Florida LPN Programs | 1 Answer


I am attending a college to become a nurse. So far I’ve completed most of my prerequisites but it’s going to take me 2 years to complete the class and the program.

One of my classmates told me that workforce one offers financial assistance and daycare assistance for students who wants to become a LPN or RN. What are the requirements? And the pros and cons of joining?

** I live in Florida. I called Workforce one but they won’t give me any info. I was told that I have to attend the orientation but I’m going to school during the orientation hours.

1 Comment so far

  1. Suddenly Human on August 1, 2010 12:06 am

    The Workforce Investment Act, sometimes referred to as WIA is a program that can help people who want to pursue an education in a career field that is “in demand” in your area. Nursing and truck driving are some of the areas that are commonly paid for.

    The WIA program is not an entitlement program, meaning that even if you meet all the requirements for it, the WIA counselor does not have to approve you. You are asked to go to an orientation to keep them from having to explain the requirements over and over and over to many folks who will never follow through with all the necessary testing, or meet the minimum academic requirements. You will be asked to take academic tests to see your math and reading levels are. You will also be asked to take career assessments to determine if your career goals are in line with one of the in demand occupations.

    A WIA program’s continued funding is determined by participants following through with their education and actually becoming employed in the field they were trained for. As a result, if a WIA counselor has ANY sense that you will not follow through with employment (as a result of your testing results or your interview or after a review of your resources and financial situation) in the field they train you for, they will not approve you for assistance.

    At orientation they will tell you about all the career and academic testing you will have to complete and give you information about what paperwork you have to turn in, including filling out the fafsa application at http://fafsa.ed.gov

    The pros are you get money sent to your school to pay for your education. The cons are this assistance is so greatly needed, the WIA counselors can be very picky about who they choose and they aren’t likely to choose you if you still have quite a few prerequisites to complete or haven’t been accepted into a Nursing program yet.

    The only con I see is that you have to agree to stay in contact with the counselors for several years after they assist you so they can track your employment and salary. Also, very few WIA programs agree to pay for everything… they will ask to look at the results of your FAFSA application and I’ve seen many counselors deny a person assistance because they were getting a full Pell grant already.