State program allows Illinois prisoners to take college courses with federal grants
(The Center Square) – Classes have begun at college campuses around the state, but also at an Illinois prison. There are about 30 students enrolled...
(The Center Square) – Classes have begun at college campuses around the state, but also at an Illinois prison. There are about 30 students enrolled in the Augustana Prison Education Program (APEP) inside East Moline Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility. The program is the first Second Chance Pell Experimental Site in the state to draw upon Second Chance Pell awards from the U.S. Department of Education to pay for tuition.This is the first program of its type in Illinois since incarcerated persons were banned access to Pell grants in 1994, but that has changed, and now regular college classes are taking place behind bars.