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“Pell Doesn’t Cover the Whole Thing”: Administrators
on the Costs of Providing Prison Higher Education

Author(s): Gaskill, S., Castro, E. L., & Aguilar Padilla, E.

Publisher: Research Collaborative on Higher Education in Prison

Year: 2022

Description

In 2023, Pell Grants will become widely available to eligible incarcerated people for the first time
since they were banned in 1994 The Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, launched
in 2015, has already impacted the landscape of prison higher education by increasing the
number of colleges and universities providing in-prison postsecondary education. For example,
a quarter of the initial 67 Programs selected to participate did not offer courses to incarcerated
students before Second Chance Pell. Further, since 2016, over 200 higher education institutions
have participated in the Experiment, enrolling over 28,000 students. Collectively, incarcerated
students have earned over 28,000 credentials since the start of the Experiment.

Last Updated: 10/11/22