LOCALIZE IT: Thousands more prisoners will get degrees paid for with Pell Grants

Left Behind Bars Pell Grants (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

The federal government has expanded access to Pell Grants for prisoners, which pay for college degrees and don't have to be paid back. The U.S. Department of Education said the expanded Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students will result in approximately 30,000 additional grant recipients receiving approximately $130 million in financial aid per year.

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READ AP's COVERAGE:

Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government

5 takeaways from AP’s reporting on Pell Grants for prisoners getting college degrees

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VIEW STATE AND DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS

A six-year Vera Institute of Justice study of Pell Grant experimental programs in prisons details the demographics of these students and the number of students enrolled in each state.

— State Info: See page 12 to view the number of incarcerated students in your state receiving Pell Grants over six years, 2016-2022.

For states not listed: With the program expansion, there will be Pell Grant recipients in nearly all states. Contact your state's department of prisons for info.

States listed in the report:

ALABAMA

ARIZONA

ARKANSAS

CALIFORNIA

COLORADO

CONNECTICUT

DELAWARE

FLORIDA

GEORGIA

HAWAII

INDIANA

IOWA

KANSAS

KENTUCKY

LOUISIANA

MAINE

MARYLALND

MASSACHUSETTS

MICHIGAN

MINNESOTA

MISSISSIPPI

MISSOURI

NEBRASKA

NEW JERSEY

NEW MEXICO

NEW YORK

NORTH CAROLINA

NORTH DAKOTA

OHIO

OKLAHOMA

OREGON

PENNSYLVANIA

RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH CAROLINA

TENNESSEE

TEXAS

UTAH

VIRGINIA

WASHINGTON

WEST VIRGINIA

WISCONSIN

— Demographic Info: See pages 5-8 for breakdowns of total enrollment by race and ethnicity, gender and type of degree completed.

— Types of credentials earned: See page 4 for a breakdown of the type of credentials earned by all enrollees over the last six years.

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VIEW EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS CURRENTLY PARTICIPATING AS OF AUGUST 2022

https://experimentalsites.ed.gov/exp/pdf/CurrentSCPParticipants.pdf

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TAKE YOUR REPORTING FURTHER

Contact your state’s department of prisons. Each state is developing plans to work with college partners to offer more behind-bars instruction. They can provide information, and tell you the names of their college partners.

Here are a few examples from Vermont, Michigan and Mississippi:

— The Vermont Department of Corrections will begin instruction in September with the Community College of Vermont, the state’s second largest higher learning institution. Commissioner Nicholas Deml, in a statement to the AP, said the Pell expansion is “a positive step forward in equipping incarcerated individuals with meaningful post-secondary education and realizing its proven impacts on reducing recidivism.”

— The Michigan Department of Corrections said it has seven separate college partners offering education programs this fall, with four more schools expected to come on board in 2024. “A lot of the students that qualify for the Pell Grant inside would qualify for it out in the community as well,” said Jessica Evans, a postsecondary education specialist for Michigan’s prisons. “Rather than waiting for them to leave, while they’re doing 10,000 other things to try to support themselves and get through life, we’re giving them the opportunity to do it while they’re inside,” she said.

— Before becoming a college partner in the Mississippi Department of Corrections last year, Mississippi Valley State University, a historical Black school located 100 miles north of Jackson in Itta Bena, asked incarcerated men and women what courses they wanted offered inside. They landed on programs in computer science, engineering technology and business administration, which will be offered in the fall. Rochelle McGee-Cobbs, an associate professor of criminal justice at Valley State who previously worked in both corrections and policing, directs the university’s prison education partnership. The school is Mississippi’s only HBCU currently serving prisoners. “We should have been doing this,” she said. “This should not just be happening now.”

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CONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS

— If you connect with a prison and their college partners participating in the Pell Grant expansion, ask if you can speak with a current enrollee or a recent graduate who has left prison. Ask them about their experience.

— There are racial disparities among enrollees in college prison programs. Connect with your state prison department and any college partners and ask if they keep demographic data on enrollees, how that data bears out and if they have plans to address any enrollment disparities that may exist.

— Are there programs in your state designed to encourage the hiring of formerly incarcerated people? If yes, consider contacting these organizations to hear their thoughts on this expansion of Pell Grant access. Perhaps they can connect you with businesses or institutions that regularly hire formerly incarcerated people and you can get their take on this grant expansion.

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READ MORE AP COVERAGE:

Rehab on hold: COVID devastated prison learning programs

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Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.