Most students attend City University of New York (CUNY) schools, particularly BMCC and the College of Technology. About 40 percent of the students seek degrees in the human services field, which includes social work. Others study business or computers, for example. Since 2002, 16 students have graduated from college, and the staff expects that number to climb next year.
To help them make it, the Initiative takes on thorny financial issues. According to the U.S. Department of Education, students convicted on felony drug charges are ineligible for federal aid for one to two years. By the time they get out, however, most students are past that window. The College Initiative helps them fill out their applications for federal and other financial aid.
The Initiative also tries to address participants’ non-academic needs. Nancy*, who was recently released from a four-year sentence at Albion Correctional Facility in upstate New York, has been struggling to attend LaGuardia Community College while raising her two young daughters in the Bronx. Going to the library added to her load, so the staff raised money to buy her a computer with Internet access for her home.
City Limits recently visited the Initiative’s new offices at 57th Street and 11th Avenue, and saw several students come in seeking help. Jose Santiago, 31, was one of them. Just a few days out of Queensborough Correctional Facility, the final stop for most prisoners before release, he wanted to enroll in college.
During his four years and three months in prison for drug possession, Santiago made friends with a guard who photocopied an entire biology textbook for him from the library. He learned it cover to cover. He plans to study biology and history at Hunter College beginning in the fall. When leaving the office one staff member commented how it’s good to see him out of prison. “I plan to keep it that way,” he said.
* Names changed at students’ request.
