Lessons from Louisiana: How State Financial Aid Systems Can Support Incarcerated Learners
Monday, August 18, 2025
By: Patrick Rodriguez, Director, Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison, and Louisa Woodhouse, Senior Policy Associate, NCAN
Reading time: 5 minutes
The prison education field includes a wide array of stakeholders, each playing a unique role in expanding access and supporting student success. Among them, state financial aid agencies are uniquely positioned to drive change – coordinating resources, connecting partners, and ensuring that incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students receive the aid they need to pursue higher education.
We spoke with staff at the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA) about how they are approaching their work to support justice-impacted students, following the reinstatement of Pell Grants for Prison Education Programs. Learn more about the scope of their work, and see case studies for effective student support, here. LOSFA’s journey offers important lessons for financial aid and state policy leaders across the country.
1. A gap in knowledge is an opportunity to grow.
A gap in knowledge should not discourage or prevent you from working with incarcerated students. Many professionals still lack information and knowledge about recent financial aid updates and how they apply to the prison education system, and to justice-impacted students. LOSFA had worked with incarcerated learners before, but not as an official focus. When the opportunity arose to step fully into this space, the team approached it with a learner’s eye, recognizing the need to understand how this population differs from others they had served and to identify knowledge gaps—both internally and across agencies—during a time when overall awareness was limited.
Ebony Holmes, LOSFA’s Director of Public Information and Advising, said the work often felt like “trying to assemble a puzzle without knowing where all the pieces were.” April Bergens, Outreach Coordinator for Adult Learners and Nontraditional Students, played a key role in making connections with agencies across the system, helping LOFSFA begin putting those pieces together and introduce themselves as partners, to say “this is how we can help, this is what we can do.” The process hasn’t been linear; progress often meant hitting roadblocks, establishing missing foundations, and then taking the next step.
2. Financial aid agencies can act as conveners.
In the absence of a statewide coordinating effort, LOSFA has stepped into the role of bridge builder and convener: mapping the landscape of supports, sharing lessons across regions, and helping other agencies connect within the ecosystem of justice impacted student support. Leveraging its state-level perspective, LOSFA staff participate in local and regional coalitions, re-entry networks, and facility-based partnerships, which keeps them up to date on the work happening across Louisiana and provides a network to support systems-impacted students.
Team members engage in these regional efforts individually but return to LOSFA with updates, resources, and lessons learned that can be shared statewide. This allows the agency to identify strategies in one region that could be replicated in others. In one instance, a grant opportunity well-known in one part of the state was completely unknown in another, and LOSFA was able to connect partners and ensure broader access for students. With statewide reach, the agency serves as a translator of best practices and a connector of resources, helping spread effective college access strategies and financial aid support across regions that might otherwise remain isolated.
3. Lead by listening – but stay mission-focused.
When LOSFA first began working with justice-impacted students, the team’s approach was simple: sit down and listen. In every meeting, they focused on understanding what had already been done, what challenges existed, what future initiatives were planned, and how it all fit into a broader vision. They recognized that entering this space requires a great deal of learning to truly understand the unique challenges facing systems-involved students, and to serve this population effectively. While confident in their college access expertise, the team also knew they needed to first understand how other organizations and individuals were working in the space, and absorb as much as possible before acting.
For some staff, the biggest challenge was staying grounded in that listening posture, focusing on what they could best offer, and resisting the urge to attempt to solve every problem (whether housing, or food assistance, employment, or one of the numerous other barriers students might face). Ultimately, LOSFA staff discovered that the most effective approach was to stay mission-focused, direct their energy toward their areas of expertise, and act as a guide—helping students their financial aid and college access services while empowering them with support and resources to navigate the rest. The LOSFA team was candid that maintaining a mission-centered approach has provided clarity, kept their work more manageable, and allowed the agency to support students effectively while staying grounded in the services they can offer.
4. You don’t have to be “robust” to start.
One of LOSFA’s most encouraging lessons is that states don’t need a fully developed infrastructure to make progress. Starting small—by building relationships with local colleges, re-entry programs, and facility staff—helped them to gain momentum. Even without a statewide coordinating body, LOSFA was able to identify concrete ways to support incarcerated learners. For states just beginning this work, the message is clear: show up, listen, and take the first step.
5. Diversify your team.
Finally, LOSFA emphasized the value of building diverse teams. That means hiring professionals with lived experience of incarceration as well as those with expertise in financial aid, workforce development, re-entry, and community partnerships. In LOSFAs case, these multiple perspectives helped to deepen the agency’s understanding, strengthen their networks and make their approach more effective.
Louisiana’s story underscores that state financial aid systems don’t need to wait for perfect conditions to engage with incarcerated learners. By committing to learn, convene, and stay grounded in their mission, they can make a meaningful difference now. At a time when higher education affordability remains uncertain, and when Pell reinstatement is reshaping the landscape of prison education, financial aid systems have an opportunity to lead. As LOSFA shows, progress is not always linear—but each step helps connect more justice-impacted students with the opportunities higher education can provide.
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