MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, Congress voted to make prisoners ineligible to receive Pell Grants, the funding program aimed at low-income college students. This summer the Obama administration expects to pursue a waiver, through the US Department of Education Experimental Sites Initiative, that would amend certain financial aid rules. No details have been announced, but under the waiver, inmates in federal or state prisons participating in a select number of college programs would once again be eligible to receive Pell Grants.

With an abundance of excellent institutions of higher education and a record of success in this area, Massachusetts should take the lead in advocating for and supporting more prison education programs. In the early 1990s, at least seven Massachusetts colleges and universities offered prison education programs.  Eligible prisoners could pursue a bachelor’s degree through Boston University, Curry College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Massachusetts Boston.  Several community colleges offered entry-level courses for inmates that led to an associate’s degree, including Mount Wachusett, Bunker Hill, and Massasoit.

When Congress passed the ban on providing grants to inmates in 1994, correctional education programs were receiving less than one percent of the total funding aimed at low-income students. It was a miniscule piece of the overall pie, yet ending the funding had a devastating effect on prisoner education programs. The ban led the vast majority of private and public colleges and community colleges nationwide to close up or dramatically cut back their prison education programs.

In 1997, the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services warned that the Department of Correction’s educational and vocational programs were in dire straits. Today, Boston University’s prison education program is the only one in Massachusetts. Prisoners who meet the competitive standards for enrollment can pursue a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies through the university’s Metropolitan College.

During the program’s first two decades, Boston University relied on the community colleges to teach the entry-level courses needed for admission to their program. When the funding dried up and the community college programs dissolved, Boston University faced a double bind:  fewer prisoners could meet their standards for enrollment and those who could did not have access to financial aid.  But with support from private foundations, faculty willingness to teach for a modest stipend, and institutional absorption of other costs, the program has consistently served at least two state correctional facilities: MCI Norfolk and MCI Framingham.

If the anticipated Obama administration waiver application is successful, history suggests that we have reason to be hopeful about the future expansion of college education programs in state prisons. A 2014 MassINC poll indicated that almost two-thirds of Massachusetts residents believed the criminal justice system should prioritize prevention or rehabilitation over enforcement or punishment. Former governor Deval Patrick planned several large-scale reforms of the state criminal justice system to help inmates re-enter society. Although Patrick steered some changes through the Legislature, state lawmakers failed to pass most of his proposed reforms.

Yet despite tight budget constraints, the Department of Correction is working hard to prepare inmates for life outside prison walls. More than 1,500 people volunteer in Massachusetts correctional facilities, helping to fill in the gaps by facilitating remedial academics, life-skills, and emotional awareness classes.

As critical as these programs are to prisoners’ lives, access to college coursework has the single biggest impact on recidivism. The Obama administration reports that inmates of all ages are half as likely to return to prison if they take college courses.

Historically, Americans have been more supportive of prison education when it takes the form of remedial classes and vocational training. Access to college level coursework is a harder political sell, for reasons that appear to be more emotional and philosophical than practical.  Last year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo encountered strong opposition to a proposal to use state funds for college classes in prisons. He quickly backed away from the plan.

But the political timing for this experimental program seems promising.  The unduly high percentage of incarcerated people of color in America and Massachusetts is in part a reflection of the kinds of social problems that have provoked unrest from Ferguson to Baltimore. Massachusetts needs a multilayered approach to addressing these deep-seated and pressing issues, and extending greater college-level educational opportunities to eligible prisoners would be one step in the right direction.

Phyllis Wentworth is an associate professor of humanities and social sciences at Wentworth Institute of Technology. She teaches cognitive skills at a Massachusetts state prison.