Convicts and College Aid

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/opinion/convicts-and-college-aid.html

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To the Editor:

As you note in “A Fair Chance After a Conviction” (editorial, April 10), higher education plays an important role in reducing recidivism. You mention in-prison education, which is essential, but we must also do more to ensure that formerly incarcerated people aren’t hindered in their efforts to receive an education once they are released.

Past convictions often haunt formerly incarcerated people who want to turn their lives around, especially when it comes to education. Questions about criminal history on college applications often disqualify applicants, or discourage otherwise eligible students from applying.

By eliminating such questions (also known as banning the box) in higher education, we will give countless people an opportunity for a better future, one based on merits and not past mistakes.

The House and the Senate need to do more than just “consider” bills that keep the Department of Education from asking questions about criminal history on federal aid applications; they need to act. And we should do the same on the state level.

MEL GAGARIN

Senior Associate of Public Affairs

College & Community Fellowship

New York