Help Incarcerated Students Continue Their Studies

Hi all,

My name is Dr. Matt Luckett, and I am the Director of the Master of Arts in Humanities (HUX) Program at CSUDH. We are the first online graduate program designed exclusively for incarcerated students, and since Fall 2023 we've enrolled 76 students in 20 different facilities across the State of California.

Although we have caught a lot of good breaks over the past few years as we've worked to build this pioneering new program, today I am asking for your help. Many of our students have hit an impasse with their funding, and as a result they will not be able to enroll in classes this fall. A few students have balances from last year that have resulted from their funding agency dropping or mishandling their cases, which makes them unable to register this year (since they now have unpaid tuition balances on their account), while others are being flat-out denied benefits on account of the fact that they have Life Without Parole sentences.

This is unfortunate, because our program is truly revolutionary. For one thing, 95% of all prisoners will be released eventually, and statistics show that a graduate education will cut recidivism to virtually 0%. Our program, which only charges $350 per credit for tuition, is substantially cheaper than imprisonment (which costs over $13,000 a month), and our graduates will be able to obtain jobs in a wide variety of areas upon completion. We are hoping to create new pathways for students to train as community college instructors and journalists, and we're working on an Artificial Intelligence block of classes that will enable our graduates to not only compete with non-incarcerated candidates, but to better anticipate the dramatic changes that A.I. trends will bring to our economy. Meanwhile, students pursuing a graduate education serve as models to other students, learners, and inmates in their yards. They showcase what is possible with the benefits of an education, which then motivates others to enroll in GED and community college programs. By becoming leaders and role models in carceral spaces, our students can help transform their communities both within and outside of prison.

But while our students show tremendous promise, they are also financially limited. For one thing, Federal Second Chance Pell grants do not cover graduate students, and incarcerated students are not allowed to borrow money. Cal Grant and most other major student aid programs are off-limits as well. As for the students themselves, most make no more than a few cents an hour, the majority of which goes to victim restitution. Moreover, their families (now short a breadwinner) are doing everything they can just trying to stay out of poverty. In a state like California, where everything (especially housing) is already prohibitively expensive, most families are just not able to cover a tuition check.

This brings us to the ask . . . we're doing everything we can to chase down grants, policy changes, donations, and anything else that can assist our students. However, most of these possibilities are months or even years away. Meanwhile, our students need help now, and apart from liquidating my life savings I cannot think of an alternative to simply putting out a Go Fund Me and seeing what happens.

The more we raise, the more students we can help. Please don't let the numbers scare you . . . first of all, as far as these kinds of programs go, ours is pretty inexpensive. We only have two part-time staff (myself included), and all of our faculty are part-time as well. Secondly, every little bit helps. Here's what I will apply the money to, in descending order of priority:

$17,000 - The first $17k raised will go directly toward paying off unpaid balances by these students' funding agencies. About half have been cleared to begin receiving money again from this particular agency, but until these earlier tuition payments are made on their behalf they will not be able to register and continue the program. The balances are as low as $2100 and as high as $4286. I'll start by paying off the lowest balances and then as more money comes in I will begin paying the higher ones. Any money that is not needed here will be automatically applied to the next category. (Note: this amount was originally $23k, but we just received authorizations for a couple of these students for last Fall. I'll continue to update these numbers as more money comes in . . . but needless to say these circumstances demand that we raise as much as we can).

$14,700 - The next $14.7k raised will go towards funding Fall 2024 tuition grants for our returning students. This estimate is based on 1) the number of students who have not yet been cleared to receive tuition support this fall, and 2) the amount of credits they need to complete in order to be on track to graduate. Any money that is not needed here will be applied to the next category.

$50,400 - The next $50k or so will go toward F24 scholarships to new students who are beginning the program but not receiving funding. This is (hopefully) a wildly inflated figure, but as we say back in my home state of Missouri, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Note that since we do plan on admitting future cohorts that I will not apply any of these funds to the next category, but will instead hold those scholarships in reserve for the spring.

All extra funds on top of these will go into a general HUX 501(c)(3) fund. I'm applying for an account through the CSUDH foundation and several family members have expressed interest in forming their own charitable organization to fund HUX students. I will split any remaining or extra money between these organizations upon the conclusion of this GoFundMe.

Anyway, if you would like more information about our program, you can check out our website at https://www.csudh.edu/hux/

You can also read an excellent article about our students and our program in the LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-03/california-prisons-higher-education-masters-program-degrees-dominguez-hills

Thank you for considering us and for learning more about what we do. Whether you decide to give or not, we hope you'll pass this along and share widely so that we can ensure our students will receive the help they need to complete this program.

All the best,

Dr. Luckett