On the day Job Corps operations around the country were to pause, the Quentin N. Burdick Job Corps Center in Minot was back in the swing of things with 44 students on campus on Monday.

“We are going to try and do business as usual,” said Tom Ross, Workforce Development specialist at the Minot Job Corps. “We have had students on campus for a couple of weeks.”

Centers around the country have been allowed to resume operations while legal challenges to the Trump Administration’s plan for closure move through the federal courts.

More students are returning to the Minot campus every day, Ross said. The center had about 130 students when Job Corps released them at the beginning of June.

Students have embraced the opportunity to return to training, Ross said. Some were close to graduating when the order came on May 30 to pause operations by June 30.

“They are just so thankful they had the opportunity to come back,” Ross said. “The next big hurdle for us is we have so many students who want to come to Job Corps, but the hold up is background checks.”

Background checks always have been required. At the time Burdick Job Corps received notice to pause operations, it had more than 60 prospective students in the pipeline, awaiting background checks and space in the programs. The center’s capacity is 197 students, Ross said.

Ross added most of the center’s staff have remained. Some were lost due to retirements or concerns about the stability of Job Corps, he said.

Ross said both faculty and students on campus have heightened their educational focus in light of the situation Job Corps is in and the uncertainty ahead.

“We were taken off life support, but we are still in ICU,” he said. “So, we have these opportunities, and students are coming back motivated.”

The expectation is there still will be a graduation celebration in August, although the original date could change, Ross said. Many Job Corps students take jobs in the area, and some enroll at Minot State University or Dakota College at Bottineau.

Ross said the notice to pause operations prompted Minot employers, associations for the trades and other partners to contact the state’s congressional delegation on behalf of the center. Although the situation for Job Corps remains fluid as matters work their way through the courts, he said, congressional information indicates federal funding is in place through June 2026.