A decision made by the state legislature nearly a year ago will take full effect next month.
Becoming legal on June 21, The State Student Assistance Commission will no longer fund college degree programs for incarcerated adults in the state of Indiana.
Although the decision to remove funding from the program was made in July 2011, the legislators appropriated approximately $2 million to support a "teach-out" or a program that identified 604 eligible offenders who were one semester away from completing either an associate or bachelor's degree.
During this past academic year, Ball State was one of several other institutes of higher education, including Grace College and Ivy Tech College, that participated in the Department of Corrections' education program.
John Nally, director of education at Department of Corrections, said research consistently documents that formal education causes recidivism to go down.
"What it means to us is on January 1, 2011, there were around 2,400 offenders enrolled in college programs," Nally said. "So there are 2,400 offenders who aren't going to be getting out of their dorms to college programs. From a state stand point, the values of the program as far as public safety goes is well documented."
Ball State helped individuals who were near completion of either an associate or bachelor's degree complete that degree.
"That program concludes this month," Joan Todd, Ball State's executive director of public relations, wrote in an email. "As of the end of the semester, we had fewer than 25 part-time adjunct faculty teaching classes in Pendleton and Miami Correctional facilities."
The university was told by the Department of Corrections in the spring that higher education programs would no longer be funded.
The 25 or less faculty positions associated with the programs also ended with the program, Todd said. Four positions were absorbed into both online and distance education programs.
Although most of the faculty positions were based on demand, members were hired to meet specific demands, Todd said.
"Ultimately, the financial impact on Ball State as a whole is negligible," Todd said.
Although the idea of alternative programs are in the works, Nally said nothing specific has been decided, but the chances of a similar program being offered by the Department of Corrections in the fall is highly doubtful.
"When you're dealing with colleges, there are so many federal and state requirements, and accrediting bodies that they have to work with, that once we discontinue this program it's going to take a long time, I'm talking 4 or 5 months, to even resurrect a portion of it," Nally said.
The decision to end the program is something that Nally said he understands.
"If you're going to spend x-amount of dollars, you need to know where you can spend those dollars the best," he said.
-รก
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
