The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) brings together leaders from midwestern states to develop cost-savings opportunities, generate collaborative solutions to challenges and opportunities in higher education, and promote postsecondary alignment with workforce needs.
Since the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students under the FAFSA Simplification Act, colleges and universities across the country are exploring meaningful ways to design, launch, and scale high-quality Prison Education Programs (PEPs). As part of MHEC’s commitment to elevating…
Earning a postsecondary credential is a critical pathway to economic success. However, for more than 70 million people with a history of arrest, conviction, or incarceration, involvement in the criminal legal system results in a series of collateral consequences that limit their upward economic mobility. Limited access to education is one of these consequences. For decades, individuals who were incarcerated were not eligible for Pell Grants, a form of federal financial aid to help eligible students pay for college. As a result, higher education in prison was rare.…
The 2026-2027 Incarcerated Applicant Form of the FAFSA is now officially available for our Prison Education Program and Second Chance Pell students who are using the paper form.
Go to nasfaa.org/pep to access both the English and Spanish versions of the paper FAFSA.
If your student is completing the online version for 2026-2027, that is accessible at https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
Produced by Achieving the Dream, this Toolkit synthesizes research from the field and stories from our colleges and offers a vast array of work-sheets and planning templates to support college teams in building institutional capacity in teaching and learning. The purpose of this toolkit is for college teams of faculty, faculty/educational developers, Student Affairs professionals, and Academic Affairs leaders to use this resource as they collaborate to change their institutional culture.
This manual will help prepare you to teach courses in Ohio’s correctional facilities as part of the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP). Teaching in prison classrooms is unique and requires specialized training and many new considerations. This manual is meant to offer a guide as you plan your OPEEP courses and navigate the bureaucratic steps on campus and at the prison location where your class will convene.
Also attached to this resource is an OPEEP training slideshow that includes an introduction to OPEEP's mission and vision for the program.
Dear all,
we are hiring for three new positions in our program - Community Education Project (https://www.stetson.edu/other/cep/). They are all part-time and predominately in-person with more info in the corresponding links:
- Writing and research specialist: https://jobs.silkroad.com…
You're invited to join a webinar on PEP administration tomorrow!
Webinar: Critical Partnerships in Administering a Prison Education Program
Date: May 29, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Duration: 75 Minutes
Price: Free
Launching and sustaining a Prison Education Program (PEP) requires more than just collaboration with the financial aid office—though that’s often where the process begins. Even the initial…
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…
A growing body of research documents the barriers faced by incarcerated students—such as limited access to technology and conflicts with correctional staff—but far less attention has been paid to the role of the built environment in shaping educational experiences. This project, led by Ennead Lab and Ithaka S+R, examines how spatial, architecture, and design features impact learning inside prisons. It draws on qualitative interviews with formerly incarcerated students and prison education program staff, and site visits to five correctional facilities, to advance both research findings and…
Launched in 2019 with support from the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative (THEI), the Tennessee Prison College Coalition (TPCC) seeks to increase collaboration between Tennessee state agencies, higher education institutions, and nonprofit partners building postsecondary education pathways for students who are justice-impacted, both in prison and the free world. TPCC brings together leaders from THEI, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD…
