Obama Restores Some Prisoners’ Pell Grant Eligibility

[uhnope]

Source: Newsweek

Some people in state and federal prisons will be eligible for Pell Grants under a program announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Education. The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program aims to help the incarcerated “get jobs, support their families and turn their lives around,” the department said in a press release.

The Higher Education Act of 1965 established Pell Grants as a type of federally funded financial aid for college students that students do not need to repay. The government decides how much aid to award each student based on financial need, cost of the school, enrollment status and future enrollment plans. The maximum amount per student for the upcoming school year is $5,775.

In 1994, Congress passed a bill that made people in state and federal prisons ineligible for Pell Grants. By that time, according to The Washington Post, 25,168 of the 3.3 million students who received the grants were prisoners, costing the government $34.6 million of the $5.3 billion it spent on the program. Some politicians felt that slice was too much of the pie. “Law-abiding students have every right to be outraged when a Pell Grant for a policeman’s child is cut, but a criminal that the officer sends to prison can still get a big check,” a congressman said at the time.

On Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the press release: “America is a nation of second chances. Giving people who have made mistakes in their lives a chance to get back on track and become contributing members of society is fundamental to who we are—it can also be a cost-saver for taxpayers.”

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/obama-restores-some-prisoners-pell-grant-eligibility-358689

[AllFieldsRequired]

1. On his last day in office he should send out a dictate requiring all prisoners

get filet mignon and strawberry cheesecake every Friday, watch the american taliban heads explode

[George II]

2. And the hits keep on coming! Very good decision, and we still........

.....have a year and a half more of these types of things!

[TwilightGardener]

3. So if my son committed a crime, he'd finally be eligible for a Pell grant?

Good to know.

[davidpdx]

7. I doubt you'd find it as amusing if your son was in prison

While I support expanding Pell Grants so that more people can benefit from them, but there is also a need to help rehabilitate people who are in prison as well. For too long the US has had a lock'em up and throw away the key attitude. Prison becomes a revolving door for many who have no way to break the cycle. Prior to 1994, inmates could get Pell Grants and earn credit toward a college degree. I know people who benefited from that. Bill Clinton signed legislation that ended the Pell Grants. That along with budget problems in most states eliminated most rehabilitation programs. Now we need to work to reverse the trend and keep people OUT of prison. College and vocational training are just a few of the things we can do to help people.

[TwilightGardener]

8. I don't think it's amusing at all. I don't think prisoners are more entitled

to federal college aid that they don't have to pay back than good kids who didn't fuck up but whose parents make a little more than the income cut-off. Sorry. I disagree with this. Help them get GED's and vocational training, fine. Open up tax-funded grants for college that my kids aren't entitled to, and that grates on me.

[davidpdx]

9. It's a not a matter of them being more entitled, it's a matter of trying to help people

who made mistakes. Inmates who are able to attend college classes while incarcerated are probably more likely to continue school when released and stay out of trouble. When looking at the cost of a Pell Grant or throwing someone back in jail/prison, which one makes more sense. Again I know people who have gone on to have productive lives because of programs like this.

I realize the stresses of trying to pay for education. My parents couldn't afford anything other than to help me occasionally with my living expenses (we were middle class). I worked my way through college as an undergrad. I received Pell Grants but only because I started later (I was almost 21 when I started, versus fresh out of high school). The rest was loans and work study. For grad school (both times) it was student loans that helped me pay for tuition.

[Skittles]

12. well-reasoned responses, davidpdx

I agree

[davidpdx]

16. To get the Skittles seal of approval is a high honor

[davidpdx]

17. Also to elaborate a bit on my point

The person I know spent was sentenced to 17 months prison when they were 19 years old and was released in 16 months. Certainly people think that person could have just sat and done nothing, but that ended up being far from the case. The person took both college courses and vocational training, took a college entrance test, and applied and was accepted to a university. Worked at a car wash after release during the hot summers and cold winter to earn money for rent and other living expenses. Seven months later started college and five years after release had a bachelor's degree. This person finished parole and was released from supervision. After working a few years, went back to school again and earned a master's degree. Last thing I heard the person is waiting for an answer on a pardon petition to the governor.

[Skittles]

18. everyone deserves a second chance

even good people can make very bad mistakes

[TwilightGardener]

19. I pay taxes that go to Pell grants that my two sons, both in college, can't receive.

But prisoners can. That's complete and utter bullshit. Find another way to rehab these people--education partnerships with selected schools, state incentives, whatever. Here's where my progressive leanings come to a screeching halt.

[hollowdweller]

20. So you are not thankful that you are upper income and both your kids are doing well and in college?

Instead mad because someone whose life circumstances and economic position put them in a different position maybe getting a hand up you feel they do not deserve??

OK. Duly noted.

[TwilightGardener]

21. Life circumstances and economic positions? They're criminals. Pell grants are to help

lower income students. I received some when I went to college. Criminals in jail are "lower income" primarily because...they're in JAIL. They're not living in "life circumstances", they MADE their circumstances because they beat someone's head in, or robbed somebody, or drove drunk, or sold illegal substances, and went to jail as punishment--and now they're entitled to the same pool of taxpayer-supported college grants that many good, law-abiding students will never see, or derive little benefit from because of the insane cost of college? Fuck that shit. Prisoners aren't entitled to government-funded college more than law-abiding students.

[davidpdx]

22. I would say that is pretty anti-progressive

That kind of attitude is a "I want mine and screw everyone else attitude". I honestly hope you didn't raise your kids to think that way. It honestly is a waste of human intelligence. We all pay taxes and I'm sure all of us disagree with many of the places the money goes (for instance if you polled DU my guess would be that close to 100% would have a problem with defense spending).

Programs that help inmates cost tax dollars, the trade off is not putting them back in prison. I suppose you would rather pay for an inmate who goes through the revolving door running up costs of law enforcement, the courts, and the cost of housing and feeding an inmate time and time again rather than keeping them out of prison. That way we can cut education more and provide less funding to schools because we are filling our prisons and jails. The other option is turn inmates into law abiding citizens who work and pay taxes and contribute to society. That really shouldn't be a tough choice for a true progressive.

As I stated in Post #7 and #9 people do really turn their lives around based on these kinds of programs.

[TwilightGardener]

24. To suggest an "I got mine" attitude from me because I don't believe criminals

in jail deserve a benefit or entitlement from taxpayers that many law-abiding citizens generally can't get, or only see a little of (not enough to make a dent at a lot of schools)? OK, count me as not progressive on this issue. And you keep presenting an "either-or" scenario in which prisoners either receive taxpayer-supported grants for college or they'll go back to crime. I've said at least twice I have no problem with them learning a trade or getting a high school diploma--I don't even care if they get loans for college. But Pell grants? No. That's a very limited resource as it is.

[stone space]

26. If he is currently inelligible, than I'm not sure how prison would help.

He'll still have to pass thru the same hoops that he does now, wouldn't he?

I'm guessing that this only removes one particular barrier, but any other barriers would still be in place, and would still apply to your son even if he were in prison.

[Yupster]

27. My thought too

My son is starting college in a few weeks.

We got no financial aid other than a merit scholarship based on his SAT scores.

Maybe if he knocks over a liquor store he can get a grant.

One college offered us a 2500 unsubsidized loan. I don't even know what that is? I can get an unsubsidized loan anywhere. How is that financial aid?

[davidpdx]

28. Unsubsidized means that the interest is not deferred while he is in school and continues to

accrue interest. Subsidized loans do not accrue interest while he is in school. I have a mix of both from my schooling, though in grad school I believe they are mostly unsubsidized.

[NJCher]

4. the kinds of courses I teach

would be very good for prisoners to take. My courses are English composition, where the student has to write an essay that expresses the writer's POV and backs it with logic and research. There is nothing like having an opinion and then having to back it up with facts and research. It forces one to examine one's view.

For this reason, I think English composition would be an excellent endeavor for prisoners.

I have been thinking for a long time that I would like to teach prisoners. I am going to investigate this program and see if I can get involved as a teacher.


Cher

[davidpdx]

10. I hope you can find some way to help out

Any kind of creative outlet would be better than nothing, which is what a lot of states provide these days. It is sad to see Democrats rail against programs that help rehabilitate people.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. This is a good thing. Undoing another evil bit of the Clinton years.

[davidpdx]

11. Yes, it is

After all he did sign the bill that repealed the funding for it.

[bluestateguy]

6. makes sense

If they are in prison under the custody of the state, that way the state will still control the money, making it impossible for the money to be used for fraudulent purposes.

Guarantee you there will be more Pell Grant fraud from regular college students or upper middle class people cheating the financial aid system, as opposed to prisoners who are in state custody.

[Sunlei]

14. IMO, much worse is the fraud of many online schools and 'private' for profit schools who depend

on all that Government grant money. And give out student loans when the grant money will not come close to the cost.

[Sunlei]

13. max amount for a pell grant today, is only $5,775? I didn't realize it was so low.

[davidpdx]

23. Pell Grants have been cut back a lot since the days when I got them

They have been a victim of budget cuts. It's time we fight to reinstate and expand them.

[Sunlei]

25. or bring back lower cost/free college credits at least for the prerequisite classes

[Drunken Irishman]

15. Obama is really kickin' ass in his second term!