Ineligible Anyway: Evidence on the Barriers to Pell Eligibility for Prison Inmates in the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program in Pennsylvania

• In Event: Reinvigorating Prison Education: Early Lessons from the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers consistently identify the ban on Pell eligibility for prison inmates as the primary culprit for the decline of post-secondary education programs in prisons nationwide. Thus, federal efforts to reinvigorate college programs in prisons naturally focused on the policy banning prisoners from Pell grant eligibility. After a prohibition of more than two decades, the Second Chance Pell Pilot program reinstated Pell eligibility for prison inmates in 28 states. Despite the reinstatement of inmate eligibility, many interested inmates are actually ineligible for Pell funding due to additional barriers to eligibility. Among the PA DOC inmates who submitted an application and FAFSA, more than one-third were ineligible to participate in the program because of Pell eligibility criteria not related to their incarcerated status. Analyzing applications from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, we describe these additional factors that render interested inmates ineligible for Pell funding beyond their incarcerated status.

Authors

• Sarah Tahamont, University of Maryland

• Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University

• Jennifer Lafferty, University of Maryland

• Nicolette Bell, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

• Michele Hiester, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

• Benjamin Pheasant, University of Maryland