{"id":16520,"date":"2019-05-20T01:25:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T01:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=16520"},"modified":"2019-05-21T07:08:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T07:08:25","slug":"states-not-just-congress-should-unlock-student-financial-aid-for-people-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/states-not-just-congress-should-unlock-student-financial-aid-for-people-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"States \u2013 not just Congress \u2013 should unlock student financial aid for people in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bradley D. Custer<\/a>, Michigan State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to higher education in prison, much of the media<\/a> and advocacy<\/a> focus is on trying to get Congress to lift a longstanding ban<\/a> on giving Pell Grants to people serving time. <\/p>\n

While a bipartisan effort<\/a> to restore Pell Grant eligibility to people in prison has stirred optimism among advocates<\/a>, the top Republican on the House Education Committee \u2013 U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, of North Carolina \u2013 questioned whether the federal government should make federal money available to people in prison. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do not understand why we want to burden people all over this country to pay for programs for prisons by giving them Pell Grants when the states themselves can take care of this,\u201d Foxx said during a May 9 congressional hearing<\/a> on how to improve college completion rates.<\/p>\n

In a follow-up email to The Conversation, a spokesperson for Foxx wrote that the congresswoman believes that \u201cmore work can and should be done to educate incarcerated individuals.\u201d She also stated that the congresswoman believes the federal government is \u201cnot the only solution, and that states have a leadership role they must play.\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe Foxx is right that states could fund higher education in prison. However, when I examined state laws and policies nationwide, I found that many states \u2013 just like Congress in 1994<\/a> \u2013 have explicitly banned incarcerated people<\/a> from receiving state financial aid grants.<\/p>\n

Grants off-limits<\/h2>\n

As part of my research<\/a> on policies that affect people who were impacted by the criminal justice system, I analyzed the state statutes, regulations and program manuals for at least 357<\/a> active, state-funded grant programs for college students. Approximately 37% \u2013 or 131 of them \u2013 across 26 states explicitly deny aid eligibility to incarcerated students or students with criminal convictions. <\/p>\n

To understand why the state bans on financial aid were enacted, I reviewed historical documents and interviewed former state policymakers who created the bans. <\/p>\n

HOPE lost in Georgia<\/h2>\n

One of the most well-known state scholarship programs is the Georgia HOPE Scholarship<\/a>, an initiative of the late Democratic Gov. Zell Miller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A former staffer in Gov. Miller\u2019s administration told me that a 1994 audit found that incarcerated students enrolled in courses through private nonprofit colleges were using what was then called the HOPE Grant, a flat US$500 per semester scholarship.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, right, stands with President Clinton\u2019s Chief of Staff Leon Panetta before graduation ceremonies at Princeton University in 1996. Clinton, who spoke at the commencement, invited Miller to join him at the graduation because of the success of Miller\u2019s higher education program in Georgia.<\/span>
\n Charles Rex Arbogast\/AP<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the tough-on-crime<\/a> Gov. Miller \u2013 who was facing his November 1994 reelection \u2013 this finding of prisoners using taxpayer funds was a political problem. If the public or his opponents learned that his prized program was being used by \u201ccriminals,\u201d it could cost him the election. The governor directed his staff to keep the issue quiet. After Miller\u2019s narrow electoral victory \u2013 51% to 49%<\/a> \u2013 his staff issued new administrative regulations<\/a> in spring 1995 that stopped the flow of HOPE<\/a> money to students in prison. As a result, incarcerated students are not eligible<\/a> for any of the scholarships administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission.<\/p>\n

Indiana shuts prisoners out<\/h2>\n

Similarly, in 2011 the state of Indiana changed its laws<\/a> to prevent incarcerated people from receiving the Frank O\u2019Bannon Grant<\/a>, the state\u2019s largest need-based financial aid program. The program awarded more than $178.6 million<\/a> in fiscal year 2018.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Great Recession, the Indiana state budget, like those of other states, was facing massive cuts<\/a>. But during this time, the number of state grant recipients grew<\/a>. This kind of growth often occurs<\/a> during economic downturns as unemployed people return to college to gain new skills and credentials. <\/p>\n

To explore where to cut, the budget officers in Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels\u2019 office audited scholarship spending, a governor\u2019s office staffer told me. They learned that incarcerated students were receiving millions of dollars in state financial aid. One news report stated that 2,500 prisoners got about $9 million<\/a> in O’Bannon grants in the 2009-2010 academic year \u2013 nearly a third of the $30 million in O’Bannon grants awarded that year.<\/p>\n

So budget staff proposed eliminating their aid eligibility. The Republican-controlled Indiana legislature passed the new law in its 2011 budget bill<\/a>, which had a swift impact on Indiana\u2019s prison higher education programs.<\/p>\n

Without student aid to pay for tuition costs, the six public and private colleges that offered credit courses in Indiana prisons stopped doing so<\/a>. They also let go of hundreds of faculty<\/a> and lost millions<\/a> in tuition revenue.<\/p>\n

A chance to act<\/h2>\n

In my dissertation<\/a>, I argue that state governments should restore financial aid eligibility to incarcerated students.<\/p>\n

As other scholars have pointed out<\/a>, restoring grant aid to the thousands of qualified incarcerated students could yield benefits to students and society<\/a>, including lower rates<\/a> of people returning to prison. Fewer people returning to prison results in more savings for taxpayers<\/a>. Research shows prison education also leads to better prospects for employment<\/a>. <\/p>\n

California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Indiana are among the states that spend the most money annually<\/a>
\non financial aid for undergraduate students. Yet, incarcerated students are explicitly denied eligibility for the largest grant programs in those states. These programs include the California Cal Grant, New York Tuition Assistance Program, New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant, Pennsylvania State Grant, Illinois Monetary Award Program and Indiana Frank O\u2019Bannon Grant. Restoring state grants to the thousands of qualified incarcerated students in these states would have a large and immediate impact.<\/p>\n

Legislators in at least two states have recently tried to amend their financial aid laws. New Jersey legislators<\/a> introduced a bill in 2018 to reverse its total ban on financial aid for incarcerated students, and Tennessee legislators<\/a> introduced a bill in 2019 to make the popular Tennessee Reconnect<\/a> program available to incarcerated students. None of the bills have made recent advancements towards passage.<\/p>\n

It is too soon to tell what Congress will do with the REAL Act<\/a>, a bill to restore Pell Grants to incarcerated students. The bill is currently scored as having a 3% chance<\/a> of being enacted. <\/p>\n

State legislators, however, have an opportunity to unlock financial aid for people in prison.\"The<\/p>\n

Bradley D. Custer<\/a>, Ph.D. Candidate, Michigan State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bradley D. Custer, Michigan State University When it comes to higher education in prison, much of the media and advocacy focus is on trying to get Congress to lift a longstanding ban on giving Pell Grants to people serving time. While a bipartisan effort to restore Pell Grant eligibility to people in prison has stirred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":16516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[4703,687,6221,1812],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16521,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16520\/revisions\/16521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}