Reinstating Pell Grants in Prisons Moves Slowly After 26-Year Ban

Incarcerated students and their supporters celebrated when Congress lifted the 26-year ban on Pell Grants for people in prison, a decision that took effect in July. Many people expected college in prison programs to balloon as higher ed institutions took advantage of new Pell dollars and that access to these programs would expand.
But the excitement has given way to the realities of the slow and bureaucratic process of ensuring the quality of new or expanded programs and that they meet federal requirements. Experts on prison education say college in state and federal prisons will indeed grow, though not overnight.