Around 760,000 people in prison will be eligible for free college with Pell Grant expansion

Pell Grant eligibility is set to be extended to people in prison on July 1, ending a ban that prevented most incarcerated individuals from getting federal aid for school.

The change has been in the making since 2020 when lawmakers voted to expand Pell Grant access to prisoners after such help was banned in 1994.

An education department spokesperson said around 760,000 prisoners will be eligible for the Pell Grant, which is also increasing at the beginning of July to $7,395.

The expanded eligibility means about 30,000 additional prisoners will be getting $130 million worth of aid per year to get their education while they are serving their sentences, the spokesperson said.

“The expansion of the Second Chance Pell Experiment will allow for opportunities to study the best practices for implementing the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students, and will expand the geographic range of the programs,” the Department of Education said in April 2022. 

Prison education programs have long been promoted as ways to help incarcerated individuals get the educated they need to hold a job once their sentence is over and brings down reincarnation rates. 

However, the idea does face some pushback and is only accessible to prisoners who are held at facilities that are able to invest the time and space into a college program.