Restore TAP funding to people in prison

Education is a right. Every state has needs-based financial assistance that increases access to education for low-income students. In New York, that's the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

For decades, the federal government and states across the nation, including New York, provided funding for successful college-in-prison opportunities. During the tough-on-crime era, lawmakers banned incarcerated students from accessing Pell in 1994, and the New York State equivalent, TAP, in 1995. 

Governor Kathy Hochul announced her intention to repeal the ban in her State of the State address the 2023 Executive Budget.

And it is easy to see why. Education inside has innumerable benefits from closing opportunity gaps to setting people up for success!

Repealing the ban on TAP is an issue of women's equity, educational equity, strengthening democracy, and racial justice.

It's common sense and a moral imperative. 

We must build on the momentum of the Governor's inclusion of the TAP repeal in her proposed budget and demand the legislature do the same so the repeal can become the law of the land. Tell your representatives to rectify this decades long injustice!