The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the final round of Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grants.

This round will include some significant changes to the program, including, reportedly, a de-emphasis on remediation. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the President and Vice President are headed to Pennsylvania today to speak about revised criteria later today at the Community College of Allegheny County.

According to the Post-Gazette, applicants for this round “will need to show a direct correlation between their funding requests and job placement” and that “some programs that have been funded in the past, such as remedial education courses, could have a harder time winning approval.” (my emphasis)

From a White House source who was not willing to be named, for some reason:

“Some of the community colleges have used the money in past rounds to do some of the things we’re talking about but others have used it for remediation,” one top White House official said. Under the new criteria they will have to use it to “actually make the endpoint of someone being able to get a job and a career,” he said. (my emphasis)