Some federal and state prisoners could begin receiving federal student aid to take college courses — while still behind bars — as early as the 2016-17 school year.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are announcing the pilot Pell grant program during a visit to the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup.
The Education Department says the program would be open to prisoners eligible for release — preferably within five years.
The pilot program was expected to last three to five years. The department says it has no estimate on how many prisoners would participate or how much the program would cost.
Pell grants are for low-income people and do not have to be repaid.
Congress excluded federal and state prisoners from Pell grants in 1994.
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