While the most urgent needs for most individuals going through re-entry include housing, employment, and healthcare, many are also motivated to engage in, or continue, higher education. This may be especially important for re-entering individuals previously
enrolled in higher education in prison (HEP) or prison education programs (PEPs). For students looking to complete a degree they started in a HEP program, continuing their education is a key element of successful re-entry and re-integration.
So, how can college access and success programs best support re-entering students as they navigate the application, transfer, and enrollment process to attain a degree? The following guidelines and insights lay the groundwork for counselors and advisors
working with re-entering students. Thanks to Latiqua Washington, Director of Postsecondary Access and Success at Goddard Riverside Options Center in New York, NY, and to Jim Allis, Re-entry Coordinator at the Hope-Western Prison Education Program in Holland, MI, for their contributions
on this topic.
Key Takeaways:
Developing partnerships between local re-entry programs and college access and success (CAS) programs can help smooth justice-impacted students’ re-engagement with higher education.
Detailed understanding of the conditions of a students’ release will help advisors assess which educational pathways or programs will be the best fit for each student.
Pre-work is a critical element of the application process. Advisors should ensure that students have access to all necessary documentation, and that they are prepared and comfortable discussing their history of system-involvement.
Transfer and credit articulations processes will vary based on location and university. Advisors should work with students to understand the details of these agreements, and how they differ by institution.
Continuous engagement with students post-release is one of the most important elements of supporting students through a success re-entry process. Consistent outreach.
Developing partnerships with re-entry programs
Many re-entry programs focus primarily on helping people who are reentering free society acquire safe and affordable housing, living wage jobs, and needed healthcare. As a result, their knowledge of higher education offerings in their community for justice-impacted
students may be limited. This is where CAS programs can play an important role. By partnering with re-entry programs, CAS programs can help fill the higher education advising void that may exist in local communities. We recommend that CAS program
leaders get to know the re-entry programs in their communities and explain the services they offer. Re-entry programs may invite CAS programs to meet with the individuals they serve and help them understand their postsecondary educational options,
fill out application, financial aid, and enrollment forms, and ultimately succeed in higher education and career.
While these services may be particularly relevant to people who have attained some credits while they were incarcerated, many people reentering free society may want to enroll in higher education. By developing partnerships with the organizations serving
people who are re-entering, CAS programs can better understand and meet the needs of the people being served.
Understanding the conditions of release
When considering best practices for advising and enrollment in higher education, counselors must have a detailed understanding of the specific conditions of a student’s release, and how these factors may influence the education options available, or which
programs might be a best fit. For example, students on probation or parole may have travel restrictions, or be unable to obtain a driver’s license, and some students may only be eligible to take online classes. In some cases, re-entering students
may be prohibited from entering or being near a school – which could be especially relevant for access to the advising office. Campus policies may also be more limiting for justice-impacted students with certain kinds of records, such as felonies
versus misdemeanors.
All these considerations are necessary to take into account to ensure that students are pursuing programs and pathways with the greatest access to available support services. Policies may vary by institution and by state.
“Go through the conditions and campus policies with a fine-tooth comb,” shares Washington. “Advisors should be hyper-aware and focused on the details,” when working with re-entering students.
Pre-work and preparing an application
When it comes to preparing an application, the pre-work is especially important. Advisors should first work with re-entering students to make sure they have access to the necessary documentation, including valid personal identification (a state ID or
license, social security number, and birth certificate,) a high school diploma, GED, or HiSET, and access to their transcripts and full academic records, whether form a HEP program or other most recent education. In some cases, prisons will provide
students with this information upon release. If not, acquiring this documentation is critical to a smooth application process.
Aside from the pre-work, one of the most important steps in the application process is helping students prepare to share about their history of justice-system involvement. Counselors should prepare students that they may be asked to disclose or discuss
their record on their application, and potentially throughout their time as a student, with other administrators, professors, and classmates. While the “Ban the Box” movement has encouraged institutions and the Common App to remove questions about
criminal justice involvement, many colleges and universities still require prospective students to disclose their records. When working with re-entering or other justice-impacted students, advisors should examine institutional policies surrounding
requirements for disclosure. Counselors can provide support for students learning to explain their history of system-involvement with a focus on personal growth and development. Experience explaining this background and working through the discomfort
and stigma associated with a record of system-involvement, will help students succeed and advocate for themselves on campus, as they become more comfortable sharing their story.
Navigating the transfer process
It is not uncommon for students to be released while in the middle of pursuing a degree. When this happens, students may be particularly motivated to continue classes as soon as possible. The credit articulation and transfer process will look different
depending on the circumstances of re-entry and the proximate institutions of higher education. In some cases, students previously enrolled in HEP programs can enroll as students on the main campus of the college or university that offers the HEP program.
This can streamline the transfer and credit articulation process. In other cases, individuals return home, and navigate re-entry in a city, state, or region of the country far from where they were enrolled in classes. The kind of transfer (HEP to
main campus, colleges within the same state university system, or different institutions in different states), will influence how the credits earned in a HEP program count towards a student’s degree.
Federal law offers some protections for justice-impacted students. According to the FAFSA Simplification Act, which lifted the ban on receiving Pell Grants for students
who are incarcerated, prison education programs, “must offer credits that may be transferred to at least one [institute of higher education] in the state where the correctional facility is located, or, in the case of a federal correctional facility,
in the state in which most of the incarcerated individuals will reside upon release.”
In certain states, credit articulation systems make it very clear which classes will or won’t count toward degree requirements. For example, the City University of New York Transfer Explorer, otherwise
known as the T-Rex system, helps students and advisors understand how previous coursework will map on to credit completion and progress towards different degree and program majors.
“The transfer requirements will vary from school to school. Each credit articulation agreement adds its own ‘special sauce,’” says Washington, acknowledging the variety in articulation agreements. “They don’t look the same at each institution.”
Supporting students through continuous engagement
One of the most important elements for successful student support is continued engagement with students post-release. Frequent check-ins, whether in person or virtual, and other streams of communication, such as texting or email, can help students maintain
points of contact, address concerns, or answer questions as they arise (and, importantly, celebrate milestones). Ongoing outreach and engagement with students are particularly important to assist students in accessing the resources they need for a
smooth transition or re-engagement with higher education. Counselors can be particularly useful in helping students identify administrative offices or community-based organizations that provide a variety of basic needs, employment, and academic support:
the financial aid office, for questions about scholarships; academic guidance, from the tutoring center or registrar; the career center, to find employment or work-study opportunities; and other campus resources, like a food pantry, student housing,
or campus life office. Whether on or off campus, counselors’ familiarity with these resources, and ability to direct students to the support or contact they need, can make a big difference in preventing disruptions that might otherwise impact student
retention and college completion.
Federal law also prohibits prison education programs from offering educational programs “designed to lead to licensure or an occupation if such job or occupation typically
involves prohibitions on the licensure or employment of formerly incarcerated individuals in the state in which the correctional facility is located, or, in the case of a federal correctional facility, in the state in which most of the incarcerated
individuals will reside upon release.”
Re-entering students are “smart, capable, and responsible,” but are dealing with a lot of change, shares Allis. At the Hope Western program, Allis spends a great deal of time meeting with provosts, deans, professors, and admissions counselors to discuss what it will look like for re-entering students to re-engage on campus, and to enlist their support. “Lay the groundwork by investing time in engaging with university administrators and admissions to have conversations about what it would look like for re-entering students,” he suggests. “The conversations aren’t particularly complicated, but they are necessary to ensuring smoother transitions for re-entering students.”
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