Center for American Progress
Donate
See all topics
See all states
Search Search
Author Bradley D. Custer examines case studies in Georgia and Indiana, where incarcerated students were barred from receiving state financial aid.
Senior Manager, Media Relations
[email protected]
Associate Director, Media Relations
Director, Federal Affairs
College students in prison are ineligible for state-funded financial aid in most states. This is because state policymakers adopted policies that explicitly ban incarcerated students from receiving aid. How and why did state policymakers do this? This study explores this question through qualitative case studies of two states where incarcerated students lost financial aid eligibility: Georgia and Indiana. The history of these policy adoption events was traced from legislative records and interviews with policymakers. This study is among the first to apply a new conceptual model of state higher education policy adoption; thus, it offers new insights into the policy adoption process and the strengths of the model. Results show the factors that influenced the adoption of new financial aid eligibility policies were represented in the conceptual model, including state economics, funding for higher education, state agency influence, political ideology, gubernatorial strength, and electoral conditions.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Journal of Higher Education. Click here to view the full article.
The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.
Former Senior Policy Analyst