From Vera Institute of Justice:
Next year—for the first time in nearly three decades—all incarcerated people who are academically eligible will be able to apply for Pell Grants to help fund their college education. This hasn’t been the case since 1994, when the Crime Bill banned incarcerated people from receiving this federal financial aid. In 2020, Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act, a landmark package of legislation that restores Pell eligibility to people in prison and significantly changes the FAFSA form and the methodology by which aid is determined.
Pell Grants are currently available to some incarcerated people through the U.S. Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell (SCP) Experimental Sites Initiative. But one of the first steps to access these grants is completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form—a form that was not designed with incarcerated students in mind.
Incarcerated students completing the FAFSA for SCP college programs have encountered numerous challenges. Vera estimates that more than 760,000 people will have the opportunity to pursue postsecondary education in prison once the FAFSA Simplification Act is fully implemented in 2023. With such monumental changes on the horizon, applicants, colleges, and advocates working with students in prison are eager to see changes to the FAFSA and the process by which incarcerated applicants receive financial aid. Continue reading >>>
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