Vermont's Bennington College will be participating in a pilot program that will allow eligible incarcerated Americans to receive Pell Grants so they can pursue postsecondary education.
The goal of the program is to help the grant recipients get jobs and support their families when they are released.
The grant recipients were announced Friday.
Bennington College's Prison Education Initiative was launched last fall.
Currently more than 20 incarcerated individuals at Great Meadow Correctional Facility - a maximum security prison in Comstock, New York - have taken courses from Bennington faculty who travel to the prison.
The funding from the U.S. Department of Education will enable Bennington's prison initiative to offer a liberal arts education to the men incarcerated at the maximum security prison.
