Pell Grants in prison education programs

How a prison education program is approved

A college that wants to teach inside a correctional facility applies to the Department of Education for approval of a prison education program. The state corrections agency or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, acting as the oversight entity, reviews the program and decides whether it serves students' interests. Pell can be paid only for courses in a program that has completed this process.

This system replaced the Second Chance Pell experiment, which had allowed a limited set of colleges to offer Pell inside prisons for several years. Colleges from that experiment have been moving their programs into the permanent approval process.

Filing the FAFSA from inside

Incarcerated students apply with the FAFSA, like any other student. Questions that once stopped many applicants are gone, since the form no longer asks about drug convictions or Selective Service registration. Program staff and facility education departments often help with the account setup, identity checks and signatures that are hard to complete without regular internet access.

Your Student Aid Index, cost of attendance and enrollment intensity set the award as they would on any campus. The lifetime limit of twelve full-time semesters also applies, and Pell received before incarceration counts toward it.

Where to ask for help

Start with the education department at your facility, which knows which colleges teach there and whether their programs have approval. The college's prison education coordinator or aid office can then explain the application steps and the dates for the next term.

Family members who want to help can contact the college with general questions, while the student's own records stay private under federal education privacy law. After release, Pell can pay for study at any participating college, and the student files a new FAFSA for each award year.