Compacts must understand the participants they are targeting, what might interfere with their participation or adoption of new skills, and attempt to overcome such challenges, if appropriate. Training providers agreed that the board and lodging allowance was very helpful for decreasing the number of dropouts and increasing attendance, and trainees universally appreciated the allowance. A board and lodging allowance will likely be necessary for future programs like the National Training Fund, even though it may impose a burden on funding of training in high-priority skill areas. If an allowance is offered, it should be included in the early planning phase rather than implemented later, which made administration of the allowance more challenging in the case of the Vocational Training Grant Fund. Ideally, this allowance should be targeted at disadvantaged trainees, but it may be challenging to develop a mechanism to effectively target the allowance (or funding more generally) to this group.
Lesson Learned