California Community College Offering Free Courses to Incarcerated Juveniles
Credit: Image Credit: Charles Harker / Moment / Getty Images- A new program by the College of the Desert will offer on-site general education college courses to incarcerated students ages 18-24.
- Students won’t have to pay for the classes, and they’re transferable to both the University of California and the California State University systems.
- The program is funded by a grant from the California Community Colleges’ Rising Scholars Network.
The College of the Desert is launching a new program that will provide tuition-free college courses to incarcerated students.
The program, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the California Community Colleges’ Rising Scholars Network, will offer on-site general education classes for incarcerated students at Indio Juvenile Hall.
Students must be at least 18 years old and either have a high school diploma or equivalent or be in high school but qualified for dual enrollment to take classes through the new program. All courses are tuition-free and transferable to the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) systems.
In California, young adults whose cases originated in juvenile court are allowed to stay in a juvenile facility until they turn 25.
Amanda Phillips, dean of counseling services at the College of the Desert, told BestColleges that the program’s goal is to provide an education to college-age students while they’re incarcerated.
It’s a way to serve our local youth who are coming back to our county and need an education,
she said. They are of the age they have finished high school. And it’s really our responsibility to provide them with college.
The program anticipates enrolling 50 students beginning this fall. The grant will also fund a Rising Scholars Center on campus that will employ a staff member and counselor to support formerly incarcerated students on campus.
Phillips says the center will help students apply for financial aid, register for classes, and connect them to community resources, such as legal assistance.
We [are] really trying to improve both folks’ conditions when they’re incarcerated and their options when they leave incarceration through education,
Phillips said.
The College of the Desert currently offers an eight-week culinary arts program at the John J. Benoit Detention Center. Phillips explained that the short-term program made sense for the detention center since county jail stays are typically shorter than other carceral institutions.
The only other detention center we have in our service area is Indio Juvenile Hall,
Phillips said. So, we became motivated to start a program on campus to serve formerly incarcerated students and also to serve currently incarcerated juveniles with college courses.
Founded in 2014 to increase the participation of carceral-impacted students in community colleges, the Rising Scholars Network supports approximately 20,000 students on campus and in federal or state prisons, county jails, juvenile facilities, and other correctional institutions.
Per the organization’s website, it offers:
- 80 campus programs
- 34 youth programs
- 30 jail programs
- 25 prison programs
- Eight federal programs
Several involved campuses offer multiple program options.
In addition to the Rising Scholars Network, both the UC and the CSU systems offer specialized programs for incarcerated students.
All nine undergraduate UC campuses have an Underground Scholars program offering services to support the education of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and carceral system-impacted students.
Fifteen of the 23 CSU campuses offer the Project Rebound program, which is designed to assist formerly incarcerated individuals pursue higher education and enroll at a CSU campus.