Expanding higher education opportunities to incarcerated people has enjoyed growing bipartisan support as a way to reduce recidivism, save taxpayers money, and mitigate the discriminatory effects of mass incarceration and unequal schooling.

But some fear that inmates might end up exhausting Pell eligibility on poor-quality programs that are rolled out too quickly, without the wraparound supports and face-to-face contact they say incarcerated students especially need.

The beginning of a new year during a time of unprecedented uncertainty means many workers will be looking to education for new skills to switch careers or to get ahead in the careers they have. 

On this podcast, Michelle Weise of Imaginable Futures discusses why colleges and employers need to rethink the relationship between the workplace and the classroom.

Joseph I. Castro has spent the last few weeks preparing to move from Fresno to Long Beach as he takes the helm of the 23-campus California State University. With him, he hopes to take knowledge of how to remove barriers for underprivileged students like he once was.

Castro has already met with President-elect Joseph Biden’s transition team and talked about goals. Number one on the list? He wants to work with the federal government to make undocumented students eligible for Pell grants.