MMC Expands Support for Justice-Impacted Students with New Scholarship • Prison Education – Marymount Manhattan College
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MMC has launched a $50,000 scholarship to help students in its prison education programs complete their bachelor’s degrees at 71st Street upon their release—a time when many formerly incarcerated people struggle to access resources on the outside.
The award, the Post Carceral Degree Completion Scholarship, was established with support from an anonymous donor and offers a wide range of possible assistance to formerly incarcerated students; depending on need, the funding can be applied to MMC tuition and related fees, as well as living expenses, such as transportation, housing, and healthcare, and educational technology that would support them on their degree paths. To be eligible, applicants must have completed at least 30 credits in an MMC prison education program prior to their release, maintained a minimum GPA of 2.5, and be enrolled or registered for a class at the College’s Upper East Side campus.
MMC has awarded associate and bachelor’s degrees at the maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women in Bedford Hills, New York, since 1997. In 2019, it began awarding degrees at the neighboring medium-security women’s prison, Taconic Correctional Facility, in partnership with Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison. To date, the College has granted more than 300 degrees to incarcerated students and has emerged as a leader in prison education, fostering mutual learning between incarcerated students and those at its 71st Street campus in Manhattan.
“MMC has been supporting justice-impacted women for almost 30 years, and this generous scholarship will allow that support to continue after our Bedford Hills and Taconic students leave those locations,” said Peter Naccarato, interim president of Marymount Manhattan College. “These funds will help our students smoothly transition to our 71st Street campus to continue their transformative educations. We are deeply grateful to the generous donors who are supporting this scholarship.”
The Post Carceral Degree Completion Scholarship is significant both as the largest award offered to formerly incarcerated students in MMC history and for its recognition of the difficulties they face in meeting basic needs once they leave the corrections system, according to Wilton Fontenette, associate vice president for development operations and alumni relations and a member of the committee that administers the award.
Until recently, incarcerated individuals in New York State were released with just a $40 stipend to help them adjust to life after prison; last year, that amount was increased to $200. The scholarship, with its emphasis on both academic and non-academic assistance, “is comprehensive in its support for our justice-impacted students,” Fontenette said
The $50,000 award will be allocated annually for the next three years, potentially to a single student each year. However, in its inaugural cycle this semester, it has been split between two recipients, both of whom are enrolled as senior Political Science majors at 71st Street: Tawana A., who earned her associate’s degree in the Bedford Hills College Program, and M. Sheridan, who was a student at Bedford Hills before earning her associate’s degree from Taconic. Because Tawana is in her final semester, it was possible for a second student also to receive assistance.
The scholarship committee, which, in addition to Fontenette, consists of Director of Student Success Advising Joshua Shirkey, Associate Professor of Politics and Human Rights Marnie Brady, Ph.D., and Director of Financial Aid Christina Bennett, will check in with both students periodically to ensure that they continue to thrive academically and to assess whether their needs may have changed.
Fontenette said committee members were impressed by the strong desire both students expressed in their application essays to give back to their communities and help fellow justice-impacted individuals. They were also moved by how passionately each woman spoke about the life-changing power of education.
Tawana said she can still remember the epiphany she had when she first arrived at Bedford Hills, which led her to the office of the College Program’s director, Aileen Baumgartner, determined to enroll. “When I started my sentence, I told myself, ‘You can either sleep your time away or you can make something of it,’” she said. “I also wanted to ensure that whatever led me to prison, like not having any skills or resources, would not be the same situation I faced coming out. That put getting a college degree at the top of my list.”
She earned her associate’s degree in six years and worked as an inmate facilitator for Hour Children, a nonprofit that helps incarcerated mothers reunite with their kids and get back on their feet once released. The organization’s program had helped Tawana stay connected with her own child while on the inside.
Upon her release in 2000, she struggled to find her footing during the height of the pandemic but got a job with Hour Children as a parenting education facilitator. She continues to hold the position to this day, teaching parenting education skills at Rikers Island and advocating on behalf of women incarcerated there with courts and social workers. “I would not have been able to get that job or known how to conduct myself in some of those spaces without my associate’s degree,” she said.
Still, in the back of her mind, there was always a nudge to finish her bachelor’s. “I would tell myself, ‘You didn’t get that far to give up, and now that you’re home, education is even more important so that you can pass the knowledge.’” But as she worked to get her life in order, she found she didn’t have the bandwidth or the financial means to re-enroll right away.
“Because of my past, I was not eligible for federal financial aid and couldn’t afford to finish my bachelor’s,” she said. “That’s partly why this scholarship means so much. It shows us that MMC understands there’s a piece missing when we come out, and that if education is important for women to have while on the inside, it’s doubly or triply important as they make their transitions outside.”
Sheridan agreed, noting that upon release, most students are in survival mode and can quickly become overwhelmed with having to start their lives over. “When incarcerated students are released, quite often their ties with family and friends are strained or completely severed,” she said. “Sadly, this often puts them in a more desperate circumstance than the one that initially led to their incarceration.”
But post-carceral assistance, like MMC’s scholarship, allows the important work students begin on the inside to continue and flourish on the outside. Sheridan credits MMC’s prison education programs with not only boosting her confidence but also giving her a sense of meaning and purpose and showing her how education can unite people from different backgrounds. Now, with the Post Carceral Degree Completion Scholarship, she’s able to reach for a new dream that will position her to help others.
While at Bedford Hills, she discovered she had a gift for coaching peers through addiction—work she did discreetly and informally, she said, noting that suspected users would be tested and punished. It has inspired her to become a recovery coach. Over the summer, she took CCAR Recovery Coach Training classes, and, after earning her bachelor’s in Politics and Human Rights from MMC, hopes to enter the field of substance abuse counseling, either as a recovery coach specialist or a case worker specializing in substance abuse. But making those plans wouldn’t have been possible without support.
“Post-carceral scholarships can be the saving grace for students like me, giving us a stable foundation to build our success and allowing us to focus on our educational goals,” she said. “They greatly increase the chances of reintegration success.”
Published: October 20, 2025
Though Jasmine, a freshman in MMC’s college program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, wasn’t among the graduates preparing to walk across the gymnasium stage at their May 29 commencement, she was bursting with excitement as she waited for the ceremony to start.
For her and fellow students at Bedford Hills, New York State’s sole maximum security prison for women, commencement is one of the most eagerly awaited days of the year. It offers a rare opportunity, she said, to celebrate peers’ achievements, which may begin in the classroom but transcend well beyond it.
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