“I Don’t Even Know What That Is”: Prison Higher
Education Student and Alumni Understandings of the Pell Grant Among Four Institutions
Author(s): Gaskill, S., Castro, E. L., & Aguilar Padilla, E.
Publisher: Research Collaborative on Higher Education in Prison
Year: 2022
Description
Launched in 2015, the Second Chance Pell Experiment allows a select number of institutions
of higher
education to provide Pell Grants to incarcerated students. To date, much of what is
known about the
implementation and impact of Second Chance Pell comes from the perspective of non-incarcerated
practitioners. In this research brief, we draw on focus groups conducted with incarcerated
students and
formerly incarcerated alumni of prison higher education programs who participated
in or are actively
participating in the Second Chance Pell Experiment. Data were collected as part of
the mixed methods
study, Exploring the Experience of Participants in Second Chance Pell, conducted by
the Research Collaborative on Higher Education in Prison at the University of Utah.1
Our research team conducted focus groups with over 100 currently and formerly incarcerated
students and alumni who enrolled at one of the four institutions of higher education
and received the Pell Grant.