Cornell University is preparing to become the first Ivy League institution to offer bachelor’s degrees to incarcerated students, expanding a prison education program that has operated for more than two decades.
The Cornell Prison Education Program plans to launch a three-year Bachelor of Professional Studies program at Cayuga Correctional Facility in August 2027.
The medium-security men’s prison is located in Moravia, New York, about 20 miles from Cornell’s Ithaca campus.
The first approved major will be “Organizations, Markets and Society,” combining coursework in business, public policy and social sciences.
Cornell plans to enroll an initial group of between 12 and 18 incarcerated students.
Classes are expected to include economics, statistics, data analytics, entrepreneurship, marketing and finance.
Students will complete a mix of self-paced work and in-person classes taught by Cornell professors who travel to the prison.
The university says those sessions will also provide opportunities for discussion and networking.
Prisoners with an associate’s degree or the equivalent of two years of undergraduate education will be eligible to apply.
That includes people already incarcerated at Cayuga as well as inmates at other facilities who may seek transfers in order to participate.
Asked whether prisoners convicted of violent crimes would be prohibited from enrolling, Cornell did not identify a blanket ban.
“The antecedent background and ongoing conduct of participants in our program require that strict standards be met,” the university said.
Cornell said the broader goal is to reduce repeat criminal behavior and help incarcerated people rebuild their lives.
“We do this work in the pursuit of breaking the cycles of crime and incarceration — making a safer and more just society for all,” a spokesperson for the Cornell Prison Education Program said.
The new bachelor’s program builds on a prison education effort that dates back to 2001.
Since then, Cornell says it has taught more than 1,000 incarcerated students at Cayuga, Auburn and Five Points correctional facilities.
Approximately 200 have completed associate’s degrees.
Tuition and fees for participating inmates have been waived.
Cornell’s prison education program also received $750,000 over five years from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office through its Criminal Justice Investment Initiative.
Previous courses offered through the program have covered a wide range of subjects.
Last year’s classes included poetry, astronomy, creative writing, social psychology, world civilization, microeconomics, infectious diseases, introductory mathematics and meditation.
The program also operates extracurricular activities.
Cornell says it attempts to create an environment that resembles a traditional college experience as much as possible.
One example is a debate club at Cayuga that the program describes as fostering a “thoughtful and nonjudgmental atmosphere” focused on “liberating the mind.”
The bachelor’s-degree expansion comes during a period of intense public attention surrounding Cornell for unrelated reasons.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has been appointed special prosecutor in an investigation involving allegations against seven men connected to Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity.
A woman identified as Jane Doe has accused the men of drugging and sexually assaulting her.
Two of the men have asked for James to be removed from the case, arguing that comments she made publicly about the accuser demonstrated prejudice before she assumed control of the investigation, per the New York Post.
That controversy is separate from Cornell’s prison education initiative.
The university’s new program represents a major expansion of the academic opportunities it already provides behind bars.
Beginning in August 2027, qualifying inmates at Cayuga Correctional Facility will be able to work toward a full Cornell bachelor’s degree while incarcerated.
If the program launches as planned, Cornell will become the first Ivy League university to provide that opportunity inside a prison.
