Publications

In 2020, the FAFSA Simplification Act restored access to Pell Grants for students who are incarcerated, reversing a nearly 30-year ban on their eligibility for federal aid. To access Pell Grant funding, eligible students must be enrolled in federally recognized Prison Education Programs. In this brief, we walk through the multi-year, multi-phase process to demystify the federal regulations and highlight its significance in improving higher education in prison data infrastructure—a critical need for the field.

Nearly 400 higher education in prison programs now operate across the US, yet basic data about these students at scale—such as enrollment, retention, and completion—is often inaccessible or inconsistent. As these programs expand, strengthening data infrastructure has become both a practical necessity and a moral imperative.