That was an overall message coming out of this year’s State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) Higher Ed Policy Conference. The event, which ran from Monday through Thursday, featured six scheduled panels with “Workforce Pell” in the title, including two at the same time. He said that, regardless of one’s politics, Workforce Pell represents the path moving forward, and states need to have “interlocking data systems.” Missouri recently integrated what was the Department of Higher Education and the Division of Workforce Development into a new Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development. Arkansas, which took steps to improve its collection of noncredit data before Workforce Pell took effect, was well-represented on conference panels.