Teaching Undergraduate Business Management Courses On Campus And In Prisons

Previous research comparing the academic performance of on-campus and incarcerated students has generally found no difference between the groups. However, no studies have been conducted since 1994, when Pell Grants were eliminated for incarcerated students. Previous research on simultaneous instruction at multiple sites has generally found that the remote students are not as satisfied as the on-campus students. However, the academic performance of the two groups of students has not been compared. This study compares the academic performance of on-campus and incarcerated students for two undergraduate Business Management courses that were delivered simultaneously to the two groups after 1994. If the observed benefits of higher education for prisoners are really due to self-selection bias, then those prisoners who continued their education after the elimination of Pell Grants should have performed much better than the on-campus students.