Clarendon College will soon offer grants to prisoners, reports Amarillo.com.
The small-town college is one of nine institutions in Texas chosen to participate in an experimental federal program offering Pell grants to prisoners. The initiative is part of the Obama administrations’ Second Chance Pell pilot program, which will provide grants to adults incarcerated in U.S. prisons.
The plan to give Pell grants to prisoners has drawn criticism from some conservative lawmakers. But Clarendon College President Robert Riza said he thinks the plan “will have a great impact on the offenders’ lives; they have an opportunity to make things better for themselves,”
Nationwide 67 colleges and universities are participating in the program.