Activities and Objectives

Members of the 2025 Cohort will receive technical assistance, guidance, and information on key topics essential for integrating remote WBL in PEPs, including:

• Compensation for work-based learners and remote employment opportunities
• Federal work-study eligibility
• The development of remote work infrastructures, systems, and processes
• Safety and security policies
• Technology and internet infrastructure
• Administrative processes and procedures
• Employer and employee training
• WBL design and methods tailored for carceral settings
• Best practices for engaging in meaningful dialogue with corrections officials employers, and academic institutions to foster collaboration and drive success
• How to evaluate the feasibility of launching a pilot initiative and identifying key conditions and processes required to create and sustain these opportunities
• Legal parameters and implications

Deliverables

• Create public presentations for other higher education in prison programs
• Develop public-facing materials and resources based on cohort discussions
• Produce executive summaries and reports on takeaways and lessons learned

Outcomes

• Participants will gain a solid foundation of knowledge needed to facilitate remote WBL opportunities for incarcerated students
• The insights and strategies developed will help shape and elevate the national dialogue on expanding remote WBL for incarcerated learners
• Incarcerated students will:
  • access meaningful remote WBL experiences, bridging education and professional growth
  • cultivate practical, on-the-job skills in real-world professional environments
  • be better equipped to enter the job market and earn a sustainable, competitive wage
• WBL will become increasingly integrated and normalized within PEPs
• The overall quality of education and its practical application for incarcerated students will improve

‍2025 Cohort members will receive:

• Full coverage of expenses to attend NCHEP in April 2025 and April 2026, including flights and transportation, hotel, meals, registration, and additional accommodations
  • The Alliance will reimburse accepted cohort members that already registered for NCHEP 14 in April 2025 for all expenses incurred
• An unrestricted award of $1,000, paid halfway through the program at the 6-month mark

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If your PEP is interested in bringing remote WBL opportunities to your students, we invite you to apply for the 2025 Alliance for Higher Education in Prison Cohort.

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Quotes from incarcerated students:

What's the purpose of all this education if I don’t get a chance to use it?
_{- Incarcerated student, Iowa Department of Corrections, 2022}

I’ve gotten two bachelors degrees since I’ve been incarcerated, and I still have six years left on my sentence. It’s like this education is just wasting away. 
_{- Incarcerated student, New York Department of Corrections, 2023}

I dropped out of my prison education program because I realized that I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to utilize my degree for nine more years, when I’m released. 
_{- Incarcerated student, Arizona Department of Corrections, 2023}

I completed my bachelors and masters in prison five years ago. I could be working and earning an income right now, which would make my reentry way less burdensome on me and society. I have about eight and a half years left, and I won’t have the opportunity to make more than $1.41/hr, but hey, I have this master's degree.
_{- Incarcerated student, North Carolina Department of Corrections, 2024}