The Collaborative aims to increase overall higher education institution readiness to improve student access and success upon release by: (1) ensuring the transferability of credits; and (2) developing resources to help institutions more effectively serve system-involved students across the intake to reentry continuum. To support higher education institutions that are administering or interested in scaling higher education in prison programs, the Collaborative will solicit, evaluate, and award a limited number of Accelerator Grants.
Several key initiatives within this workstream will be guided by members of the Higher Education Working Group. This group will collaboratively finalize the Request for Proposals (RFP) for Accelerator Grants and support the development of whitepapers addressing critical issues, such as the role of higher education institutions in effectively supporting students throughout the intake-to-reentry continuum and enhancing credit mobility.
In addition, the NEPEC team will partner with the working group to create a Returning Student-Ready Toolkit for higher education institutions across New England. This toolkit will feature comprehensive policy guidance on credit transfer best practices and effective utilization of Pell Grants to better support returning students.