Filling Critical Gaps for College in Prison Programs: Strategies from Two Community Based Organizations.

When the federal government banned incarcerated students from accessing Pell Grants in the mid-1990s, a new model for supporting Higher Education in Prison (HEP) programs emerged-utilizing Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) as third-party facilitators to fill the gaps left behind in the absence of federal financial aid. With the longawaited reinstatement of Pell for incarcerated learners that went into effect in 2023, it is essential to consider the critical role that CBOs have played in supporting college programming in the absence of Pell and how they can continue to be leveraged to ensure quality and access for Prison Education Programs (PEPs) in a post-reinstatement landscape to prioritize equity, student autonomy, and robust student support for incarcerated students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]