The bigger picture:
For at least the past several decades, the United States has been engaged in a back-and-forth about whether and to what extent people who’ve run afoul of the law should be able to access higher education. One of the most notable examples is when Congress — in the name of being “tough on crime” — decided in 1994 to ban people in prison from being able to access Pell Grants. That ban lasted for 26 years, until Congress lifted the ban in 2020. Even before the ban was lifted, in 2015 under the Obama administration, a limited number of colleges and universities were able to participate in an “experimental” program known as Second Chance Pell.
Vera — a New York City-based organization that fights to end what it describes as the “criminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty” — reports that more than 40,000 students participated in the Second Chance Pell between 2016 and 2022, earning a total of 12,000 credentials between 2016 and 2022.
In 2023, the Education Department called on colleges to stop asking applicants about their criminal histories, but did not require them to stop doing so. As of today, eight states have restricted or prohibited the question on admissions applications for public institutions: California, Colorado, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington.
