Welcome

Welcome to the Prison Education Foundation. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt 509(a)(1) public charity dedicated to providing incarcerated men and women with the opportunity to change their lives through higher education.

Although as a public charity donations may be accepted from any source, our primary funding comes from various 501(c)(3) private foundations which are classified by the IRS as "nonoperating" foundations. Nonoperating private foundations do not operate their own charitable purpose programs, but rather, they provide grants to other 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that do. These grants, along with corporate donations, are our primary source of funds.

Overview

Few people realize that today’s prison system provides only limited educational opportunities. In 1995, with the passage of the Omnibus Crime Bill, Pell Grants and federal student loans were made unavailable to incarcerated persons. Because of this, two situations occurred. First, there was little access to any type of financial aid to pay for post-secondary tuition. Second, because of the lack of financial aid, most prison education departments stopped providing assistance and guidance to inmates trying to navigate their way through the post-secondary educational opportunities available to prisoners. Their primary efforts were directed toward the 54% of the prison population that did not have their high school diploma or GED certificate.

The situation changed only slightly in 2015 when the Second Chance Pell experiment was established to provide Pell Grants to prisoners. However, these Pell Grants were available at only a few prison institutions.

Then on December 27, 202, the FAFSA Simplification Act passes as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, and included the restoration of Pell Grants for prisoners. However, these Pell Grants are very limited and only available to prisoners at institutions that have an approved Prison Education Program (PEP) that has been established by a public or nonprofit collage or university. Today, most institutions do not have a PEP operating at their facility. That means, for most prisoners, very little has changed.

So for the majority of prisoners, most of which cannot afford to pay for post-secondary tuition, their years of incarceration are wasted. These are young dads and moms who in a few years will be back with their children; and will struggle to provide for and hold their families together.

Earning a college degree from a fully accredited college or university could transform the life of the individual and his or her family. Earning a college degree can turn “wasted” years into “invested” years.

We know that the intellectually rigorous process of education changes a person. An educated person thinks, reasons and acts differently. The mind of an individual is different after it has gone through the rigors of post-secondary study. Therefore, the person is different.

Quite simply, we believe that post-secondary educational opportunities should not be denied to today’s ever-increasing prison population.