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The Mellon Foundation has awarded South Dakota State University a grant to help ������Ƶ provide a pathway to higher education for previously incarcerated individuals looking for a better future.

The ������Ƶ Post-Carceral Education Opportunity Program is now accepting applicants for the spring 2025 semester. Individuals can complete the online application or connect with ������Ƶ’s Continuing and Distance Education for more information. 

The new program is for post-carceral students meeting ������Ƶ’s admissions standards, with a focus on first-time college students who have been released from incarceration or on probation within the past three to five years. Participants will be regularly enrolled and participate in courses on campus and online like any other student. As part of the student success services offered, students will complete a portfolio that allows them to reflect on their educational experience, writing about how it helped them and evaluating their coursework. 

Academic offerings will be augmented with student success services specifically designed to support previously incarcerated students and their needs. The goal is to create a supportive space for student success leading to enrollment and, eventually, graduation. 

The Post-Carceral Educational Opportunity Program will have three primary goals: 

Provide student success support programming specifically designed to meet the overall “in-course” learning needs of post-carceral students. 

Provide academic and student success resources for retention and progression toward degree and/or credential completion for post-carceral students. 

Provide enrichment programming designed for post-carceral students, e.g., workshops and guest speakers. 

For questions or further details about the program, contact Continuing and Distance Education. 

About the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence and freedom that can be found there. Through its grants, the foundation seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.