One thing before anything else: the National Weather Service has a heat advisory for Northwest Arkansas through Sunday evening, with highs near 102 and heat index values up to 107. If any of this issue’s outdoor checklist can wait for early morning, let it wait.
Arkansas quietly changed the math on trade school this month. The state’s short-term training scholarship jumped from a maximum of $800 to as much as $3,000, and for the first time, construction trades made the eligible list. There’s a catch that will cost people real money if they miss it, and we walk through it below.
Also this issue: Fayetteville is partway through a phased increase in permit and development fees, the state’s home energy rebate program still hasn’t opened almost two years after it was funded, and the fall training calendar gets busy fast, with NWTI, NWACC, and an HVAC academy all starting between now and the end of August.
TRADE UPDATE
Arkansas raised its trade training scholarship to $3,000, and added construction trades
For the 2026-27 academic year, which started this month, the Arkansas Workforce Challenge Scholarship pays up to $1,500 for a professional skills training program of 80 to 179 clock hours, and up to $3,000 for a program of 180 or more clock hours, or for a credit program. The old cap was the lesser of program cost or $800.
The bigger change is the eligible-field list. The Arkansas Division of Higher Education now names five high-demand areas: advanced manufacturing, health care, information technology, construction trades, and logistics, distribution and transportation. Construction trades being named at all is new.
The rules are unusually friendly. You need to be an Arkansas resident with a high school diploma or equivalent, accepted into an approved program. There is no financial-need test, and people who already hold a graduate degree are still eligible. There’s no minimum completion or employment threshold. The one disqualifier is holding the Academic Challenge Scholarship at the same time.
The change comes from Act 341 of 2025 (the ACCESS act), which amended the 2017 law that created the scholarship.
The part that will cost people money if they miss it: you have to apply at least 30 days before you enroll, not 30 days before class starts. If a school won’t tell you its exact start date, you can’t count backward to hit that window.
What to do: apply through the state’s SAMS portal, and ask your school’s financial aid office directly whether your specific program is on the new AY26-27 approved list. ADHE distributes that as a separate spreadsheet, and being at an approved school isn’t automatically the same as being in an approved program. Questions go to [email protected].
Fayetteville’s permit fees are going up again
Fayetteville is phasing in an increase to development and permit fees, raising them by one third of a user-fee-study-recommended amount in both 2026 and 2027. City staff have said many of these fees hadn’t changed since 2004, leaving a gap of more than $2 million between what fees collect and what the service actually costs.
The council passed the ordinance 8-0 on May 19, 2026, adopting it as proposed with no amendments. Changes include a penalty for work done without a fire permit of triple the application fee with a $250 minimum, a new $125 fire re-inspection fee, new grading permit categories ($150 to apply and $50 to resubmit for Miscellaneous; $400 and $150 for Minor Utility Extension or Fireline), and 1.5 times the standard price for expedited or same-day service. Going the other direction, the business license renewal late fee drops from $50 to $30.
Separately, the city’s water and sewer impact fees rose from $1,843 to $5,670 per single-family unit and $1,311 to $4,026 per multifamily unit, the first change since 2009.
What we could not confirm: the exact effective date of the 2026 installment. The city publishes a document with that detail, but it has not loaded across four separate attempts. If you’re pricing a Fayetteville job, call the city and ask which schedule applies to your permit date.
What to do: if you have a Fayetteville job you’ve been slow-walking, price the permit under current numbers before you write the estimate.
Still no state rebate for home energy upgrades
The federal 25C and 25D tax credits that used to soften the cost of a high-efficiency HVAC system or insulation upgrade are gone for 2026 work. The natural next question is whether Arkansas’s own program picked up any of the slack. The honest answer, from the state’s own page, re-checked this morning: “At this time, the Home Energy Rebates Program is not available in Arkansas.”
Arkansas was allocated about $105 million for this program, and the state’s own 2024 rollout presentation projected a launch in “early 2026.” It’s now August. Arkansas isn’t unusual here: an industry group tracking the national rollout counted twelve states plus Washington, D.C. with launched programs as of June 2026, and 43 states and territories still without one.
What this means right now: don’t plan a system replacement around a rebate that doesn’t exist yet. What is real and available now is smaller. Your electric cooperative may run a free energy audit, and income-qualified weatherization assistance is operating in the region (see Quick Links). When the state program does open, installations will need to go through a “qualified contractor,” so that’s the thing for contractors to watch, not the rebate figure.
THE WEEKLY FIX
Your AC has been fine all summer. Here’s the leak that shows up in August.
If you notice a small puddle near your indoor AC unit, water staining on a ceiling below an attic-mounted air handler, or a musty smell that wasn’t there in June, the most common cause this time of year is a clogged condensate drain line, not a failing unit.
Why it happens in August specifically. Central AC pulls a lot of moisture out of the air in humid weather, and that water has to go somewhere: down a small PVC drain line, usually to the outside or to a floor drain. Algae and mold build up inside that line over a full cooling season, and by August it’s had three or four months to accumulate. A clog backs the water up, and it finds the nearest low point, which is often your ceiling or a drain pan that overflows.
What’s reasonable for most homeowners to check themselves: find the drain line’s exterior outlet, a white PVC pipe near the outdoor condenser, usually dripping steadily on a hot day. If it’s bone dry while the AC is running, that’s a sign of a clog upstream. Locate the indoor cleanout, usually a T-fitting with a cap near the indoor unit or in the attic. With the system powered off at the thermostat, some homeowners pour a cup of distilled white vinegar down the line every month or two during cooling season to keep algae from building up. A wet/dry shop vac held tightly over the exterior outlet can also pull a mild clog free. And check the emergency drain pan under the unit for standing water. If it’s already full, or the float switch has tripped and shut the system off, that’s telling you the primary line is already backed up.
Stop and call a professional if water has already reached drywall or flooring, the float safety switch keeps tripping and shutting the system down, you can’t locate or reach the cleanout without going further into ductwork or an attic than feels safe, or the unit is in a hard-to-access attic in August heat. Attic temperatures regularly exceed 130 degrees on summer afternoons. If you go up there at all, do it early morning or evening, wear a mask, and stay on the joists.
One thing worth knowing before you call anyone: a condensate clog is a routine, inexpensive service call, not a sign your system is failing. Ask specifically for a drain-line flush rather than a full diagnostic if that’s all it turns out to be.
This is general seasonal maintenance guidance, not a claim about any specific product, brand, or local contractor’s pricing.
YOUR NWA CHECKLIST
Considering trade school this fall? Apply for the Arkansas Workforce Challenge Scholarship at least 30 days before you plan to enroll, not before class starts. See Trade Update for the details.
Check your AC’s condensate drain line for the summer-long clog described in The Weekly Fix, before it turns into a water stain.
Fayetteville homeowners and contractors: price permits at current rates before writing an estimate. The fee increase passed in May and is phasing in through 2027.
Mark Aug. 25 to 29 for the Washington County Fair. It’s at the Washington County Fairgrounds, 2537 N. McConnell Ave. in Fayetteville, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. $5 cash admission, kids 5 and under free.
Weighing fall coursework? NWACC’s 16-week term opens Aug. 15, register by Aug. 21. NWTI’s fall term starts Aug. 17. See Around the Trades.
FREE GUIDES AND LOCAL EVENTS
Washington County Fair, Aug. 25 to 29, Fayetteville
Arkansas’s oldest county fair, back at the Washington County Fairgrounds, 2537 N. McConnell Ave. in Fayetteville. Gates run 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Admission is $5 cash or $7.50 by card, and kids 5 and under get in free. Parking is free.
Two deals worth planning around: $2 Tuesday on opening day, Aug. 25, with $2 admission all day and $2 ride tickets from 5 to 10 p.m., and Buddy Night on Thursday, Aug. 27, with two ride armbands for $30.
One quirk if you look the fair up online: the association’s mailing address is in Prairie Grove, so some listings show the wrong town. The gates are on McConnell Avenue in Fayetteville.
Secchi Day on Beaver Lake, Saturday, Aug. 15
A free, one-morning citizen-science event where volunteer boat teams spread across Beaver Lake to measure water clarity and collect samples for the lake’s long-term water-quality record. Worth knowing about if your household gets drinking water from the lake, or if you have lakefront property. Beaver Water District confirms the 2026 event for Aug. 15 and is still recruiting teams, but check-in sites and times are not posted. Contact Beaver Water District at 479-756-3651.
AROUND THE TRADES
A busy two weeks on the fall calendar
NWTI’s fall term starts Monday, Aug. 17. The school says fall orientation drew record attendance this year, with enrollment up about 11 percent. Two standing details worth knowing whether or not you’re enrolling: RETA certification exams run on NWTI’s main campus Fridays, 8 a.m. to noon, by appointment only, and the school is now both RETA and SACA authorized, SACA being the credential set built around connected-systems and Industry 4.0 skills. Call 479-751-8824 for programs, seats and pricing.
NWTI Basic Welding runs Monday nights, 6 to 9 p.m., Aug. 31 through Dec. 14, $750 for the semester, the lowest-cost structured welding intro found in the region. No application deadline; NWTI enrolls until the class fills.
AGC Arkansas, Traffic Control Specialist with Flagger Certification, Monday, Aug. 17, Fayetteville. 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., $250 members, $400 non-members, lunch included. CLASS FULL as of Friday morning. We checked the day we sent this. AGC runs the flagger sequence periodically at its NWA office, 3608 N Steele Blvd. If you need the certification, call 501-375-4436 now and ask to be notified when the next date posts, rather than waiting for it to show up online.
NWACC’s 16-week fall term opens Saturday, Aug. 15, most weekday sections start the week of Aug. 17, and the deadline to register for the 16-week session is Aug. 21. The college’s electrical apprenticeship registers year-round and leads toward the Arkansas journeyman exam: 576 classroom hours plus on-the-job hours. Contact [email protected] or 479-986-4084.
Arkansas HVACr Academy’s evening program starts Aug. 24: 31 weeks, two nights a week (Mon/Wed or Tue/Thu), 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., EPA 608 certification included. $1,750 per semester plus a one-time $500 supplies fee, and a $450 deposit to hold your seat that applies toward tuition and is non-refundable. AR529 eligible, payment plans available. Employers: Arkansas Office of Skills Development grants can help cover training cost. Call 479-957-1215.
XNA’s Western Concourse expansion is still in its bidding window through August, with construction set to run September 2026 through September 2028. No bid due date or engineer’s estimate is published on the airport’s own index yet. Call 479-205-1000 if you’re chasing a package.
QUICK LINKS
Verify any contractor’s license, free. The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board and the Arkansas Department of Health both publish public lookup tools. Our two-minute guide walks through them at nwatrades.com.
NWTI programs and applications: nwti.edu
AGC Arkansas training calendar: agcar.net/events
NWACC electrical apprenticeship: nwacc.edu, [email protected]
Free home weatherization for qualifying households: Crawford-Sebastian Community Development Council, cscdc.net/weatherization, 479-785-2303 ext. 100
Arkansas Workforce Challenge Scholarship: adhe.edu/institutions/arkansas-workforce-challenge, [email protected]
ONE LAST THING
If you or someone you know is weighing trade school this fall, forward them the scholarship item. The 30-day rule is the whole ballgame, and almost nobody knows about it yet.
If someone forwarded you this, subscribe at nwatrades.com. It’s free, and it always will be.
Heard about a counter day, a free workshop, a training deadline, or a policy vote we should be watching? Reply to this email. Event tips and homeowner questions are always welcome, and we verify everything before we run it.