For the first time in almost three decades, the Pell Grant is once again available to incarcerated individuals enrolled in an approved prison education program. This exciting news has resulted in the women of Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, in McCloud, Oklahoma, scurrying to the education building to secure their copy of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Administered by the U.S. Department of Education, the FAFSA is a form college applicants fill out to qualify for federal financial aid, including Pell Grants. There is a specific FAFSA for incarcerated applicants.

As a college clerk, I have witnessed the confusion and panic in the eyes of many potential students when they are handed the FAFSA. I don’t blame them. The form asks questions about your personal finance and background, is intimidating if you’ve never seen it before. Many incarcerated people have spent decades behind bars with little to no experience filing taxes and other government forms. 

In my facility, there are four college clerks available to assist applicants through the FAFSA process. I suspect that is not the case in many facilities, so for individuals without that support, the following guide is for you.

The FAFSA is easier to fill out for those who have been locked up for a longer period of time and may not have needed to file taxes the previous year. Someone who just entered prison, on the other hand, will usually have to: remember the dollar amount they submitted on their previous tax form; have someone at home willing to find the information; or file IRS form 4506-C to request a transcript of your tax return. 

For those considering requesting financial aid, the following guide will hopefully make it easier to fill out the FAFSA. This guide covers the current form that expires in 2025.

And two things to keep in mind if you’re filling out the form by hand: Write as neatly as possible, in all capital letters, with black or blue ink. And remember to fill in all circles completely; do not simply make an “X” or a check.

One last thing: Students should not fill this out on their own, and should only do so if they have been accepted to attend a Pell-eligible program at their facility. For more information, please see this handy information sheet from Open Campus.

Step One

This section asks questions about you, the applicant. The only parts you must fill out are:

• Your name (it must match your social security number)
• Date of birth
• Social security number

Step Two

• You may skip filling out phone number and email address since this is the incarcerated form.
• The permanent mailing address is your prison address  as is the city, state and zip code.
• The country is U.S.

Step Three

This is your marital status (must match IRS records).

Step Four

• If you are just beginning college or have completed under 30 college hours, fill in the first circle. If you have completed 30-60 hours, fill in the second. If you are seeking a bachelor’s degree, fill in the third.
• On the next line, if you do not already have a bachelor’s degree, fill in “No.”
• On the next line, fill in “No” since you will not be pursuing teaching certification.

Step Five

Look over the selections. If any apply, fill in the square. If they don’t, fill in: “None of these apply.”

Step Six

You will most likely answer “No” to this, especially if you’ve been locked up for awhile. If you select “Yes,” you may have to contact the financial aid administrator at the college to determine if you will be required to provide documentation concerning homelessness

Step Seven and Eight

You may skip steps 7-8 if ANY of the following are true:

• You answered “No” to step 6
• You were born prior to 2001
• Your marital status is married (not separated) or remarried
• Your grade level in 2024-2025 will be Master’s, doctorate, or graduate certificate program
• You selected something other than “None of these apply” in step 5

Step Nine

The answer will be 01.

Step Ten

The answer will be 01.

Step Eleven

Fill in the circle with your preferred gender.

Step Twelve

This section requests your ethnicity.

Step Thirteen

Fill in “U.S. citizen or national.”

Step Fourteen

Your state of legal residence will be the state you are incarcerated. The date you became a resident will be the approximate month/year you moved there, got arrested in that state, or were born in that state.

Step Fifteen

Fill in the circle reflecting your parents’ education status.

Step Sixteen

Fill in “Yes” or “No”

Step Seventeen

• If you received a high school diploma, fill in the first circle.
• If you received a GED or its equivalent, fill in the second.
• If you received a diploma, fill in the name of your high school, the city and the state.
• If you received a GED or equivalent, fill in the circle next to the applicable choice at the bottom of this section. Also provide the issuing state in the space to the right.

Step Eighteen

If you or anyone in your family received any of these benefits in 2022 or 2023, fill in the square. If not, fill in “None of these apply.”

Step Nineteen

• First, fill in “Yes” if you filed taxes the previous year and “No” if you didn’t.
• Second, if you did not work out of the country (or Puerto Rico) the previous year, fill in “No.”
• If you answered “No” to the first two questions, you can skip the rest of this page, all the way through step 22. This is reserved for tax information.

Steps Twenty-Twenty Two

If you did file taxes and need to contact somebody outside for the information, there will be a delay before you will be able to complete these steps.

Congratulations! You’ve just filled out your FAFSA. Now, mail only Pages 3 through 8 to the following address:

Federal Student Aid Program
P.O. Box 7657
London, KY 40742-7657

If these steps are followed, you should have no problem getting your Pell Grant funding approved, provided you are enrolled in an approved prison education program and you do not have federal loan debt from before you were incarcerated. 

If the federal government’s records don’t match one of the answers provided on the form, the form will be returned to you. They will state in which section they detected the discrepancy.

Editor’s note: This how-to guide was updated June 2024 to reflect changes in the new FAFSA form.

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.