Reimbursement Rates & What's Covered

The WTFP Express grant covers training costs on a reimbursement basis, with the percentage varying by employer size. The program is designed so that smaller employers receive a higher subsidy — recognizing that they have proportionally fewer resources to invest in training.

The "eligible training costs" include the direct cost of the training program itself — the tuition or training fee charged by the approved vendor (CyberWarrior). This is the number that appears in our invoice.

What the WTFP Express grant does not typically cover: wage costs for employees during training (their time while attending), travel costs, or materials costs separate from the training program.

The practical implication: if CyberWarrior's training program costs $X and your reimbursement rate is 100%, your out-of-pocket cost is $0. If your rate is 75%, your out-of-pocket cost is 25% of $X. We will give you both numbers before you submit the application — you will know what you are getting into before you are in it.

With 45 employees, you are in the smaller-employer bracket of the WTFP Express program, where reimbursement rates are at their highest. The Commonwealth Corporation's current rate schedule for your employee band is confirmed as part of the application process — we pull the current schedule and show you your specific rate before you apply.

Historically, employers in the under-50 employee range have qualified for reimbursement rates at or near 100% of eligible training costs. This means for many businesses your size, the net out-of-pocket cost of CyberWarrior training has been close to zero.

The discovery call is the fastest way to get a specific number for your situation. We will assess your employee count, confirm the current reimbursement schedule, and tell you exactly what to expect before you fill out a single form.

This is an important distinction that affects how you calculate the true cost of sending your team to training.

What WTFP Express covers: The training fee — the cost you pay to CyberWarrior for the program. If CyberWarrior's program costs $5,000 for a team of 10 and your reimbursement rate is 100%, you receive $5,000 back after training completion and documentation submission.

What WTFP Express does not cover: Wages paid to employees during the hours they spend in training. If five employees attend a two-day workshop and each earns $25 per hour, you are paying approximately $2,000 in wages for that training time, and those wages are not reimbursed under Express.

Wage reimbursement under WTFP General: The WTFP General Program (for larger or multi-employer training projects) can include a wage reimbursement component, which offsets a portion of the wages paid to employees during training. This program has a competitive application process and longer timeline, but it can be more financially beneficial for businesses doing a larger-scale training initiative.

For most small businesses evaluating CyberWarrior's programs through the Express pathway: factor in both the training fee (reimbursed) and the wage cost during training hours (not reimbursed) when calculating total cost. For a half-day or full-day workshop format, the wage cost is usually modest relative to the training value — especially when the training fee itself is fully or largely reimbursed.

WTFP Express is a reimbursement program — you pay for training upfront and receive reimbursement after it is complete. Here is the sequence:

Step 1: Apply first. Submit a WTFP Express application to the Commonwealth Corporation before training begins. Training conducted before an approved application is not eligible for reimbursement. This is a common mistake — do not schedule training and then apply after.

Step 2: Receive approval. The Commonwealth Corporation reviews and approves your application. Under the Express program, this is typically faster than the General Program — often within a few weeks of a complete application submission.

Step 3: Train. Once approved, schedule and complete your CyberWarrior training program. CyberWarrior invoices you for the training, and you pay.

Step 4: Submit documentation. After training is complete, you submit completion documentation to the Commonwealth Corporation — typically attendance records, certificates of completion, and proof of payment. CyberWarrior provides the training-side documentation; you provide the payment documentation.

Step 5: Receive reimbursement. The Commonwealth Corporation processes your documentation and issues reimbursement. Processing timelines vary — plan for several weeks after documentation submission.

The implication for cash flow: you need to be able to pay for the training upfront and wait for the reimbursement to come back. If this timing creates a challenge, raise it during the discovery call.

The WTFP Express reimbursement documentation package typically includes the following components.

We walk you through this documentation package as part of the application process. Our goal is that you arrive at the reimbursement submission step with everything already organized — not scrambling to find records after training is done.

WTFP Express grants are subject to maximum award amounts per employer per grant period. The Commonwealth Corporation sets these caps, and they can vary by program cycle and available funding. Confirming the current cap for your application is part of the work we do with you during the application process.

As a general orientation: WTFP Express is designed for smaller training initiatives — a team or department, not a company-wide rollout of hundreds of employees. If you are training a team of 5 to 30 people on AI literacy or cybersecurity, the program is well-suited. If you are looking to train 100 employees across multiple programs, you may reach the Express cap and need to consider the General Program or multiple Express applications across different grant periods.

There is not typically a per-employee reimbursement cap within the grant total — rather, the total grant award is capped for the employer in a given period. If your training cost falls within that cap, you receive reimbursement on the full cost (at your applicable rate). If your training cost exceeds the cap, you receive reimbursement up to the cap and pay the remainder out of pocket.

For the current cap amounts applicable to your situation: we will pull the current Commonwealth Corporation guidelines during the discovery call and give you a specific number.

WTFP reimbursement is tied to training completion. Employees who attend and complete the training program are documented as completers, and their portion of the training cost is included in the reimbursement request. Employees who do not complete — whether due to absence, withdrawal, or non-participation — may affect the reimbursable total.

How this is calculated depends on how your training program is structured. There are two common approaches:

Per-participant pricing: If training is priced on a per-participant basis, non-completers' fees are excluded from the reimbursement request. You pay for all registered participants, but only claim reimbursement for completers.

Group pricing: If training is priced as a cohort fee, the reimbursement calculation depends on how the Commonwealth Corporation treats partial attendance under your application. We will clarify this at the application stage.

Best practice: plan for full attendance. CyberWarrior tracks attendance during programs and flags any participation concerns early. If an employee is at risk of non-completion, we notify you during the program — not after — so you can intervene before it becomes a reimbursement issue.

We also recommend building a small buffer into your cohort: if you need 15 certified completers for a business goal, register 17 or 18 to account for any unexpected absence.

The WTFP Express program does not impose a hard rule that limits you to one training program per year. However, the maximum grant award per employer per program cycle does create a practical cap on how much you can claim in a single cycle.

If your first training program uses the full maximum award amount, a second application in the same program cycle would not receive additional reimbursement — you would have exhausted your cap. If your first program uses only a portion of the cap, a second application may be feasible within the same cycle.

The more common approach for businesses that want multiple training programs is to plan one cohort per grant cycle and apply for a second cohort in the next cycle. Grant cycles are typically annual, so a second program later in the year or in the following year often makes more practical sense.

For businesses considering both AI literacy training and cybersecurity awareness training for different employee groups: talk to us about how to structure the applications most effectively. We can help you sequence the programs and the grant applications to maximize your reimbursement across both.

The specific answer to whether you can claim reimbursement for multiple programs depends on the current cap amounts and your application history. We will give you a concrete answer during the discovery call.