Our Story

In 1994, the federal Crime Bill stripped Pell Grant eligibility from incarcerated students. What followed was a near-total collapse of higher education behind prison walls, a generation of people who served their time without the one tool research consistently shows reduces the chance they'll ever come back.

In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Education reinstated Pell eligibility for incarcerated students. Southeast Community College moved fast. By January 2024, we partnered with the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to launch UPWARD: Unlocking Potential With Academic Resources and Development. We became one of the first colleges in the country to receive Department of Education approval as a Prison Education Program.

We started with 229 students at five facilities: Nebraska State Penitentiary, the Reception and Treatment Center, Community Corrections Center–Lincoln, the Center for People, and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York. More than 30 SCC faculty began teaching on-site. Students received SCC laptops configured to meet correctional security requirements. Classes met on a schedule that mirrored campus: three hours, twice a week, with the same syllabi.

In the months since, the program has grown to serve more than 900 students, awarded 165 credentials, and earned a $470,000 Lowe's Foundation Gable Grant to expand into the skilled trades. The Sunshine Lady Foundation contributed a capital grant to build a dedicated SCC education center on the grounds of the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women, a permanent home where the program will more than double the women's enrollment and shorten time-to-degree.

This is the most ambitious prison education program Nebraska has seen in three decades. And it's just getting started.

[CTA: Read about UPWARD's leadership →]  [CTA: See our impact →]