Students at five Texas community colleges can now seek the new Workforce Pell grants to pay for job training.

The community colleges recently received the stamp of approval from the U.S. Department of Education, marking the first time low-income Texas students can use the federal grants money for short-term workforce training.

In East Texas, Kilgore College students can use the financial aid for pathways toward being electrical power linemen, phlebotomy technicians or pharmacy technicians. In North Texas, Weatherford College students can apply the grants toward training in HVAC, basic machining, and advanced machining.

Students at Central Texas, Texas Southmost, and San Jacinto can take advantage of the grant to enroll in the colleges’ programs for pharmacy technicians, structural welding and phlebotomy technicians, respectively.