Orange County, CA | PRNewswire | October 20, 2023
Coastline College will host a virtual induction ceremony for students who have earned acceptance into Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society, on Monday, October 23, 2023, at 12 p.m. As one of the most innovative colleges in the United States and a leader in online education and distance learning, Coastline’s deep commitment to academic excellence and student success extends to offering challenging educational opportunities to both traditional and incarcerated students. Through the Hope Scholars Program, Coastline enrolls over 7,000 incarcerated students each year, awarding 286 associate degrees and 71 Certificates in 2021-2022 alone.
The ceremony honoring Coastline College students marks the first induction of an incarcerated student at a federal penitentiary into Phi Theta Kappa, the largest international honors society in the world which began including incarcerated students in 2017. Jason Palacios enrolled at Coastline College as a Hope Scholar in Spring 2021 and has earned 27 credit hours at Coastline with a 4.0 GPA. He takes courses via correspondence while incarcerated at USP Atwater, working toward a degree in Sociology. Jason is one of thousands of incarcerated students who benefit from correspondence education such as that offered by Coastline’s Hope Scholars Program.
Correspondence education allows incarcerated students to progress at their own pace and mitigates the impact on college access often caused by understaffing and frequent lockdowns endemic to prison environments, particularly the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The correspondence modality offered by Hope Scholars continues Coastline’s enduring commitment since opening in 1976 to being a “College Beyond Walls”, providing high-quality educational opportunities where its students live and work, even if where they live is a maximum-security federal penitentiary.
About Coastline College Hope Scholars and Phi Theta Kappa:
In early 2017, the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Board of Directors unanimously voted to extend membership to those who are incarcerated or on parole. It was a decision borne from the mission of PTK and the colleges it serves: to increase access to membership and its benefits and opportunities by closing equity and inclusion gaps. In short, Phi Theta Kappa would become a partner to these students as they seek second chances. The decision paralleled the dedication of Dr. Natalie Schonfeld, Dean of Students at Coastline College, and Advisor for Coastline’s PTK Chapter. Dr. Schonfeld has been concerned with issues of diversity, access, and inclusion in education throughout her career, a commitment she honors daily by working to provide incarcerated students at Coastline with the same access to educational opportunities as that available to traditional students. Dr. Schonfeld works closely with Nathaniel Harrison, Director of Online and Distance Learning at Coastline College, to advocate for incarcerated students like Jason Palacios.
Jason has been in prison for 28 years since he was 19. Now at 47, he encourages his fellow inmates — and everyone else — to complete their education. While many state correctional systems provide some access to college programming, such opportunities are much scarcer in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Even the Second Chance Pell opportunities that have been offered at five federal prison facilities since 2015 excluded those serving life sentences as a matter of Second Chance Pell policy, a restriction that has only changed in the past year with a change in the federal law that will allow Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals for the first time since 1994. Due to his life sentence and the lack of college courses provided at his facility, Jason spent ten years self-advocating and seeking access to college courses until he was able to enroll as a Hope Scholar at Coastline College in January 2021. Being inducted into Phi Theta Kappa is a huge honor and a rarely accessible one for incarcerated students in general, and even more so for those serving sentences in federal facilities.
Phi Theta Kappa operates at two-year colleges, with more than 250,000 active members and 1,300 chapters throughout the world. The mission of Phi Theta Kappa is to “focus on recognizing and encouraging the academic achievement of college students while providing opportunities for individual growth and development through participation in honors, leadership, service, and fellowship programming.” Eligibility for lifetime membership includes maintaining a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Approximately 10% of community college students qualify for membership in Phi Theta Kappa.
In addition to the honor of being recognized by PTK for academic excellence, service, and leadership, PTK membership comes with potential benefits that help those leaving prison successfully reenter society. The lifetime membership benefits of PTK include access to professional development and leadership certificate courses online, transfer student assistance and an online scholarship database. Phi Theta Kappa members can access $246 million dollars in transfer scholarships offered by over 800 four-year colleges to help complete associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. Those reentering society after incarceration can also include PTK membership on their resume and request personalized letters of recommendation for job applications from the PTK website.
College access and validation of one’s educational achievements while incarcerated also yield large returns for society as a whole by reducing recidivism. The Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report in 2018 from a study that looked at recidivism rates from 2005 to 2014. Recidivism rates identify the percentage of inmates who are released and return to prison. They followed inmates from 30 states over a nine-year period and found the recidivism rate within three years of release was 68 percent, 79 percent within six years, and 83 percent within nine years. These numbers show the revolving door of the prison system.
In 2017, Global Tel Link released statistics showing education’s effects on reducing recidivism rates. The recidivism rate drops to 30 percent for individuals who receive vocational training, 13.7 percent for those with an associate degree, and 5.6 percent for a bachelor’s degree. For a master’s degree, the chances of going back are near zero.
About Coastline College:
Coastline College is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. For eight consecutive years, Coastline College was selected as one of the top 150 colleges by The Aspen Institute for Community College Excellence which is considered the most prestigious designation for community colleges. Coastline delivers flexible courses and services that cultivate and guide diverse student populations across the globe to complete pathways leading to the attainment of associate degrees, certificates, career readiness, and transfer to four-year colleges/universities. Coastline College is a recognized leader in the design, development, and use of innovative technology-based teaching and learning practices, processes, and systems for anytime-anywhere learning to achieve and sustain student success. Thinking beyond traditional offerings, Coastline College delivers flexible courses and services that cultivate and guide diverse student populations across the globe to attain career readiness through associate degrees and certificates, alongside preparation for transfer to complete bachelor's degrees.
Coastline Media Contact:
Dawn Willson, Director of Communications, PIO
Coastline College
714-241-0381, dwillson1@coastline.edu
Tags: Coastline College, Phi Theta Kappa, Hope Scholars, Natalie Schonfeld, Nathaniel Harrison, Bureau of Prisons, Prison Education Program, Second Chance Pell, Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Global Tel Link, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Incarcerated Students, College Education and Recidivism, Correspondence Education, USP Atwater, Jason Palacios