For decades, incarcerated individuals have been intentionally and systematically locked out of higher education, suggests a report from the Student Borrower Protection Center. The federal student aid program has played a critical role in this exclusion by blocking Title IV access for would-be students behind bars, a denial most harmful in the longtime prohibition on incarcerated students accessing the Pell Grant.
This restriction has had dire effects on incarcerated individuals, who are more likely to find gainful employment and housing and are less likely to return to prison if they participate in Pell Grant-funded Higher Education in Prison.
The U.S. Department of Education’s recent announcement that incarcerated students will now have renewed access to the Pell Grant and Prison Education Programs is a step in the right direction but leaves behind many of those most in need of reform, says the report. Incarcerated student loan borrowers remain locked out of higher education as they enter the criminal legal system already in federal student loan debt and, thus, are likely to slip into default with devastating consequences even beyond Pell Grant ineligibility.
Most immediately, the Department can and must cancel all student debt owed by borrowers who are incarcerated, the report states.
Additional findings in the report include:
- More than 90 percent of these borrowers owed less than $20,000 and could therefore see their debt completely wiped out by the President’s cancellation plan.
- 100 percent of the borrowers in this case study were in default on their federal student loans, compared to only about 20 percent of all student loan borrowers before COVID-19.
- Without student loan cancellation, most incarcerated borrowers will be locked out of higher education and the improved post-release outcomes it brings, since PEPs will be reliant upon federal student aid and will likely turn away Pell Grant-ineligible individuals who are unable to fund their own educations.