We’ve been wondering how prison education programs have grown since the reinstatement of Pell grants for incarcerated learners a couple of years ago. So we sent our producer Jeff Young to learn more. It turns out colleges wanting to set up programs face complicated logistics and cultural challenges. To help, several states have recently set up statewide consortiums to help. On this episode we hear from the director of a new program in Minnesota building a playbook for colleges hoping to serve incarcerated students. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.
Chapters0:00 - Intro
2:06 - A New Statewide Coalition
3:08 - How Financial Aid Rules Changed In 2023
5:27 - Prison Education Programs Need a Range of Resources
6:40 - Have College Prison Programs Expanded In Recent Years?
7:28 - Colleges Don’t Know Where to Start With Prison Programs
8:32 - What Is the Model for Minnesota’s New Prison Education Consortium?
10:40 - What Professors Need to Know About Teaching in Prison
12:24 - A Guidebook for Prison Education Programs
13:50 - A Student’s Perspective on Higher Ed in Prison
20:40 - The Importance of Learning While in Prison
23:15 - How a Prison Program Changed a Student’s Outlook
24:48 - A Student’s Advice for Professors Teaching in Prison
26:05 - Sponsor Break
26:24 - Online v. In-Person Prison Education Programs
29:29 - When Students Take Ownership of Prison Education Programs
32:17 - Cultural Factors of Setting Up Programs in Prison
33:47 - Technology Needed for Prison Education Programs
35:55 - A Student’s Perspective on Edtech in Prison
39:42 - What’s the Policy Outlook for Prison Education?
41:52 - An Argument for Non-Credit Programs in Prisons
44:51 - What’s the Future for Prison Education?
48:46 - Improving Re-entry Support
Relevant Links“Reinstating Pell Grants in Prisons Moves Slowly After 26-Year Ban,” in Inside Higher Ed.
“State Coalitions Emerge as Key Infrastructure for Higher Education in Prison,” in Open Campus.
“Advancing Opportunities for Higher Learning: An Evaluation of Minnesota's New Higher Education in Prison Programs,” by the U of Minnesota’s Center for Urban & Regional Affairs.
Check out our previous episodes on the topic: “‘College Unbound’ from the Traditional Model” from 2024 and “College in Prison” from 2022.
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