What is the state of the field of higher education in prison? What is its future? In this group, you can join conversations that critically reflect on the culture, history, and future of the field.
Topics include, but are not limited to, the culture of HEP programs and classrooms, norms in the field, the history of the field, and its future.
Group Content
Call to HEP programs: share how you maintain ties with alumni
Mount Tamalpais College (MTC) and its research partners at UC Berkeley's Possibility Lab will release a set of field resources on maintaining ties with released students and involving them in research on HEP program outcomes. This is part of a three-year effort to scale programmatic resources (Identifying and Scaling Higher Education in Prison Programmatic Resources: Systems Alignment Initiative), managed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in partnership with the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison and Jobs for the Future.
To ensure our resource is responsive to the needs of as many program types as possible, we invite fellow practitioners to complete a 20 minute survey about whether and how they maintain ties with released students, including their efforts to offer post-release services and evaluate student outcomes.
You can access the survey HERE. We would ask for responses by Wednesday, May 13. Thank you for sharing your work!
NEPEC Event: “Navigating the PEP Approval process: Forming Best Interest Determination (BID) Stakeholder Groups "
The New England Prison Education Collaborative invites you to the second session in our quarterly virtual workshop series, “Navigating the PEP Approval process: Forming Best Interest Determination (BID) Stakeholder Groups.”
Date and Time: Wednesday, December 17, 3-4:15 P.M. EDT
Register here: Navigating the PEP Approval Process: Forming Best Interest Determination (BID) Stakeholder Groups | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
Location: Microsoft Teams
Event Details: This workshop will focus on how to form effective Best Interest Determination (BID) groups, a critical component for prison education programs in the region applying for Pell-eligibility. The BID process ensures that programs are not only compliant with federal regulations but also intentionally designed to support the development of educational opportunities that benefit incarcerated learners and support reentry and long-term success. Panelists will discuss how they developed their BID processes and working groups—sharing practical advice, key successes, and the challenges encountered along the way.
Expert Panelists:
- Ruth Delaney, Initiative Director for Unlocking Potential, Vera Institute of Justice
- Laura Roda, Director of Adult Education, Staff Development & Training, State of Maine Department of Corrections
- Tyler Stoldt, Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Services, Washington County Community College
- Thom Anderson, Post-Secondary Education Program Coordinator, Vermont Department of Corrections
A portion of the session will be reserved for open discussion, offering stakeholders and attendees a chance to ask questions, raise concerns, and receive focused technical assistance. We encourage all attendees to come prepared to engage and collaborate.
If you’re unable to attend, we would be grateful if you could engage with and reshare our LinkedIn post on the event to help spread the word.
If you have any questions or need additional details, please don’t hesitate to reach out to nepec@nebhe.org. We hope to see you there.
The Best Interest Determination (BID) Toolkit: Guidance for Oversight Entities
This Best Interest Determination (BID) Toolkit was created by the Vera Institute of Justice, in partnership with a BID Council and the members of the 2024 Corrections Education Leadership Academy (CELA), to be a resource for corrections agencies to prepare their BID system with all processes, procedures, and stakeholders in place, as necessary, to assess postsecondary institutions offering a PEP, according to federal regulations. To maintain their PEP status, postsecondary institutions must work with their correctional partner, otherwise known as the oversight entity, to complete a program review termed the Best Interest Determination (BID). The final regulations require that the BID must take place, at minimum, within two years of the PEP being approved by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and must be repeated every time the postsecondary institution renews its Program Participation Agreement or earlier if required by the oversight entity.
This Toolkit is designed to assist oversight entities with meeting the BID requirements, as outlined in 34 CFR
668.241 of the final regulations, ED’s FAQs that outline the BID process in more detail, and referenced in ED’s
optional form, “Best Interest Determination- Prison Education Program.” Some of the specific suggestions
outlined in this Toolkit are not required by regulations; however, based on a review of the regulations, Vera
recommends oversight entities create the following four tools:
- Create a policy describing how the BID will be conducted,
- Develop template reports for postsecondary institutions offering approved PEPs to complete,
- Design a BID feedback template for participating stakeholders to complete, and
- Create a response letter to the postsecondary institution offering the PEP that documents the BID
outcome.
NEPEC to release Accelerator Grants Request for Proposals | Wednesday 4/30/2025
The New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC), led by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), and funded by Ascendium Education Group, will release the Request for Proposals (RFP) for its inaugural Accelerator Grants on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
Five Accelerator Grants will be awarded to eligible higher education institutions located across the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to increase Pell-eligible prison education programming in their state.
Grant recipients will develop or expand programs, build partnerships, increase access to Pell funding, and support reentry efforts for students transitioning back to campus and home. Applicants are asked to submit proposals for $100,000 of funding for use over 12 months. Grant applications will be due on Friday, June 6, 2025.
To learn more, access the full RFP, and register for the webinar, visit: https://nebhe.org/higher-education-in-prison/our-work/higher-education-engagement/accelerator-grants-rfp-year-1/.
NASFAA 2nd Annual PEP Convening. Aligning Efforts: Navigating the Intersection of Student Services and Prison Education
Grand Hyatt Washington - Washington, DC
Wednesday, June 4, 3:30 p.m. ET through Saturday, June 7, 2025, 12:00 p.m. ET
Join us this summer in Washington, D.C., for the Second Annual Prison Education Program (PEP) Convening, hosted by The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). This in-person convening will focus on the administration of higher education programs in prison and the critical services they provide to incarcerated students.
Bringing together financial aid administrators (FAAs), PEP administrators, and professionals from other student services roles, this convening will explore strategic and practical approaches to best support college students who are incarcerated.
Over four days, attendees will engage with a diverse group of experts, including practitioners, impacted students who are field experts, educators, correctional oversight leaders, accreditation specialists, researchers, and national leaders in prison education and student services. The program will provide PEP administrators with a deeper understanding of the statutory responsibilities and federal compliance requirements managed by FAAs and other student services professionals. Meanwhile, college student services teams will gain valuable insight into the challenges of working in a prison environment, the extraordinary complexities faced by incarcerated students, and the barriers they encounter when transitioning to campus life after confinement.
Sessions will also cover the PEP application process, organizing successful student orientation sessions, disability services responsibilities, budgets, and how to properly manage data privacy and reporting.
As the approval process for PEPs accelerates, 2025 will be a pivotal year for their introduction and expansion. This convening aims to foster collaboration between those administering PEPs and those overseeing student services, bridging gaps in understanding and strengthening support systems for incarcerated students.
Applications to attend this convening will be available soon. Through the generous support from Ascendium Education Group, selected colleges will receive full coverage for registration and travel costs.
Stay tuned for more details!
NEPEC Event: Conducting a Higher Education in Prison Needs Analysis: Varied Approaches and Perspectives
The New England Prison Education Collaborative is preparing to host the first of our quarterly virtual workshops in March, “Conducting a Higher Education in Prison Needs Analysis: Varied Approaches and Perspectives.”
Date and Time: March 19th, 2025, from 3:00- 4:30 PM EST.
Registration Link: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/d3dzhr5
Location: Zoom
Event Details
This event aims to equip stakeholders – including Departments of Corrections, State Higher Education Executive Officers, program providers, and leaders with lived experience with the tools and knowledge needed to conduct a needs analysis and gauge barriers to increasing access to higher education in prison and improving student success.
While open to the public, we are structuring these quarterly workshops so that they are particularly relevant to state stakeholders engaged in NEPEC’s state strategic planning initiative, which runs in year-long cycles. This aligns with one of NEPEC’s overarching goals: to support all New England states in developing state strategic plans aimed at expanding the quality and quantity of prison education program portfolios—and, if desired, pathways to vocational education—over the next five years. In this way, our quarterly workshops will serve as capacity-building sessions for states in the region: both those who are currently undergoing our state strategic planning process and those who plan to do so in the future.
Expert Panelists – March 2025
This event will feature the following speakers:
- Haley Shoaf, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director at Unlocked Labs
- Nathan Barrett, Vice President of Programs and Development at the Coleridge Initiative
- Alex Monday, Researcher, Educational Transformation at Ithaka S+R
- Ess Pokornowski, Program Manager, Justice Initiatives at Ithaka S+R
A substantial portion of the session will be dedicated to open discussion, allowing attendees to ask critical questions and receive targeted technical assistance. We believe this is an essential conversation for advancing higher education in prison and we hope to see you there.
If you’re unable to attend, we would be grateful if you could engage with and reshare our LinkedIn post on the event to help spread the word.
If you have any questions or need additional details, please don’t hesitate to reach out to nepec@nebhe.org. We hope to see you there.
Completing the PEP Application and the E-App Process
Title: Completing the PEP Application and the E-App Process
Date: January 28, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Duration: 75 minutes
Price: Free
When Partner Connect and the E-App changed at the beginning of 2024, schools discovered they would need to add some unanticipated details to their application the first time they did a submission after that. And when the process and documentation to apply to be a Prison Education Program (PEP) via the E-App changed in the fall of 2024, it left schools with some questions about how to prepare before they do the actual application.
This webinar will share some real-life experiences about the first time a college goes through the E-App after the changes in 2024, focusing on what general information to have prepared, as well as the new PEP attachments and questions.
Speakers:
Sheila Meiman – Prison Education Specialist – NASFAA
Felipe Leal – Director of Financial Aid – Lee College
Donna Zuniga – Associate Vice President – Lee College Huntsville Center
NASFAA members, click here to register:
https://www.nasfaa.org/pep_eapp_jan25
General admission participants, click here to register:
https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/4832895/F5368BD6F544BA6C47C538300B6EBB3A
Contact us at pep@nasfaa.org if you have any questions.
This work is generously funded by a grant from Ascendium Education Group.
Course and Instructor Evaluations for Prison Education Programs
While end-of-course surveys are standard in most colleges and universities, they’re often designed for traditional students and overlook the unique needs of incarcerated students and the educators who serve them. This guide bridges that gap, offering evaluation questions tailored to the prison education context. Developed with input from students enrolled in prison education programs, it’s a tool to help ensure course evaluations are both meaningful and relevant.
This guide was developed in collaboration between the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network and Doug Walcerz, the Provost and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Lee College.
Fall 2023 SUNY HEP Newsletter
The annual newsletter from the State University of New York's Office of Higher Education in Prison (SUNY HEP) details SUNY HEP programs and degrees, and includes an interview with Chancellor John King Jr., graduation highlights, and alumni and faculty highlights.
Data Use Agreements – Jobs for the Future
Postsecondary education programs in prisons collect data on their students to inform program planning; assess students’ academic progress and outcomes; and meet institution, government, and funder reporting requirements. Also, programs applying to the U.S. Department of Education to become an approved prison education program (PEP) must include documentation in their application showing that their postsecondary institution has entered into an agreement with the oversight entity (typically a state department of corrections [DOC]) to obtain data on the transfer and release dates of incarcerated individuals. This resource walks you through the process of establishing consistent access to relevant DOC data on students who are incarcerated through the use of data use agreements (DUAs), also known as data sharing agreements (DSAs), with their DOC partners.
Digital Equity Webinar Series: The Impact of High-Speed Internet Access on Incarcerated and Justice-Impacted Individuals
Accessing high-speed internet in correctional settings can serve as a conduit for incarcerated individuals to receive vocational and technology training programs and set them on a path to success. This recorded webinar highlights state and local examples of how leaders in this space are creating economic development opportunities for justice-impacted individuals and how they are defining their digital equity baselines, indicators, and goals, as well as tools they use to measure success.
Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Prison Education
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on rehabilitative programs, including education programs, that are provided in state prison systems. State and federal correctional systems implemented a variety of policies to prevent or contain the spread of COVID-19 within this population. As part of this response, many correctional systems ceased or substantially cut back on programming starting in 2020; this included shutting down ongoing education and workforce training programs, as well as other programs and activities, and preventing instructors and other staff from entering prison facilities.
This report presents the authors' findings on how COVID-19 has affected prison education programs within state correctional systems from 2020 through 2023. The overall goal was to collect critical information to help inform educators, colleges, corrections officials, and policymakers about the magnitude of the pandemic's overall impact and its effects on access to education programs.
College Inside: A Newsletter About the Future of Postsecondary Education in Prisons (Full Archive)
Written by Open Campus staff reporter Charlotte West, this biweekly newsletter from Open Campus is about the future of postsecondary education in prisons. This online archive contains PDF versions of previous issues of the newsletter.
NPR: How a Prison Education Program Is Building Community on the Inside—and Out
In this radio segment from NPR and WBUR's Here & Now, Deepa Fernandes speaks with Jennifer Lackey, the founding director of the Northwestern Prison Education Program. This segment runs approximately 8 minutes and 50 seconds.
Open Campus: California Inmates Depended on Community Colleges. What Happens When Their Prisons Close?
This news article from Open Campus discusses the impact of prison closures on incarcerated students.
As California closes three more prisons and downsizes six others, some prisoners aren’t ready to go. They are worried about the future of their education. California Governor Gavin Newsom is closing and downsizing prisons across the state, putting the future of over a thousand incarcerated students at risk. College administrators say they have few resources to help.
Open Campus: Prison Education Programs Are Primed to Take Off in Mississippi. Here’s What One Class Looks Like.
This news article from Open Campus takes us inside a prison education program in the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Open Campus: They Saw the Demise of College in Prison. Thirty Years Later, It’s Coming Back.
In this news article from Open Campus, four formerly incarcerated people share their experiences with Pell Grants prior to 1994—when Congress eliminated access to federal financial aid for incarcerated students. Their stories have been edited for length and clarity.
National Data Sources on Prison Education Programs and Students
This resource from Jobs for the Future (JFF) can help postsecondary institutions capitalize on existing national data sources to obtain information on prison education programs and students.
In this resource, overviews for the following data sources are provided:
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
- Federal Student Aid (FSA) data
- Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Survey of Incarcerated Adults
- Education Justice Tracker (EJT)
- National Student Clearinghouse (NSC)
- National Directory of Higher Education in Prison Programs
Open Campus: ‘We Need More High-Impact Learning Practices in Prison’
This news article from Open Campus highlights key takeaways from the 2023 National Conference for Higher Education in Prison (NCHEP).
Open Campus: When Education Becomes the Metric for Clemency, Some People Get Left Behind
This news article from Open Campus highlights the work of one of the first incarcerated professors in the country, David Carillo, who teaches incarcerated students in an undergraduate business program at Adams State University in Colorado.
