NORTH PARK — North Park and Roosevelt universities were among 67 higher education institutions — and the only in Illinois — chosen by the Obama Administration to participate in a pilot program that will offer Pell Grants to eligible inmates enrolled in degree programs.
Dubbed "Second Chance Pell," the program includes both two- and four-year institutions and is geared toward prisoners likely to be released within five years.
Most prisoners have been ineligible for Pell Grants since 1994.
The 67 colleges and universities will serve 12,000 inmates incarcerated at 100 prisons across the country, either by providing instruction on site or online.
“Many of the people that we’re trying to help frankly haven't had a fair first chance,” Thomas Perez, Secretary of Labor, said during a news conference last week.
“People with a criminal record have remarkable potential, and it’s up to us to unlock that potential," Perez said.
North Park University, 3225 W. Foster Ave., was founded 125 years ago by the Evangelical Covenant Church and enrolls nearly 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students.
The university will enroll 16 inmates at Illinois' Sheridan Correctional Center.
“The population in prison is probably one of the least accessible populations in the country,” Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, professor of theology and ethics at North Park, said in a statement.
Clifton-Soderstrom spearheaded the university's application to the Second Chance Pell program and already teaches North Park courses in correctional centers.
“North Park is Christian, urban and intercultural," she said. "And to be truly intercultural, we need to address some of the barriers to participation in education from all people."
Roosevelt University will enroll 70 inmates at Illinois' Taylorville Correctional Center.
A RAND Corporation study found that inmates who participated in correctional education were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than prisoners who did not.
RAND also estimated that every dollar invested in correctional education programs saves four to five dollars in three-year re-incarceration costs.
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