While those with felony charges may struggle in their job search due to the stigma surrounding incarceration, Eastern Michigan University's College in Prison program offers a ray of hope.
Launched in 2023, the program supports individuals serving time at the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility, located in Ypsilanti. As of 2025, 70 incarcerated individuals were enrolled in classes taught by EMU faculty and working toward a bachelor's degree in general studies. Within this degree, students can choose a concentration such as business management, social work or entrepreneurship.
Funding for the program comes primarily from the federal Pell Grant. While incarcerated students are not allowed to take on debt, an initiative from the Obama administration reversed prior laws that restricted those individuals from receiving federal aid. In addition to government support, the program also receives scholarships and grants.
While incarcerated students cannot attend classes on the main EMU campus, faculty teach the same courses with the same syllabi that non-incarcerated students receive outside of the facility, said Meghan Lechner, director of the College in Prison program and Returning Citizens Fellowship.
Those in the program are offered the same bachelor's degrees that non-incarcerated EMU students pursue, but the materials they have access to are limited.
"Our biggest issues are technology," Lechner said. "December will be the first time our students have access to technology at all."
Up until this upcoming change, all work done by the College in Prison program students has been completed by hand. Now, students will have access to computers tailored specifically to those serving time.
The goal of the program is for students to earn their bachelor's degree, but not every student who earns a degree will use it for life outside of incarceration. For some, they will be released from prison with bachelor's degrees already completed, ready to enter the workforce. But others are serving life sentences without the chance of release.
"When you have more educated people in a space who want to do better for themselves, and want to see others do better, it just makes the whole atmosphere safer," Lechner said. "Education isn't just about getting a job; it's also about transforming yourself into a different human being."
Recidivism, when an individual is reincarcerated after finishing their initial sentence, affects 41.9% of all those serving time in the United States. However, for those with a bachelor's degree, that rate dropped to 5.6% as of 2024.
"Our belief is that someone's access to education is a necessity," Lechner said. "From the get-go, ensuring that this was an opportunity available to everybody there was important to us. When they graduate, they can help their peers and support younger women who are newly entering prison to see their own potential. From a facility perspective, prisons that offer higher education programs see significantly reduced problems with violence."
Andrea Bracy, a 2025 graduate of the College in Prison program, spent nine years incarcerated before finishing her sentence with a bachelor's degree from EMU.
"Being in prison alone made it hard," Bracy said. "When you're in prison, you're just a number. They called me Bracy so much, they started thinking that was my first name. When EMU came, and we finally had the opportunity to be called our full names, it was a reminder that we're still human. We still had some type of normalcy within ourselves, and we could get our identity back."
Now released from prison with a bachelor's degree, Bracy is working towards finishing her truck-driving license, intending to become a full-time semi-truck driver.
In the future, the College in Prison program hopes to expand on the areas of study available to incarcerated students and is even looking to offer educational opportunities beyond a bachelor's degree.
For those interested in supporting the program, both monetary donations and supplies, such as up-to-date textbooks, are encouraged. For more information, the donation link and breakdown page can be found on the College in Prison program website.
