TREC Spotlight: Transforming Higher Education

By Brett King and Travis Sands 

The end of the fall ’25 semester marked a milestone for Metro State’s Transformation and Reentry through Education and Community (TREC) college in prison program when its 70th student earned a BA in Individualized Studies. That so many students have graduated while incarcerated—with limited technological access and conditions not conducive to learning—is a testament to their commitment to rigorous study and the transformative power of education. Metro State’s TREC Program has reached this graduation milestone in just more than 4 years is a nationally unprecedented testament to the College of Individualized Studies longstanding commitment to providing place- and problem-based,high-quality education to students historically excluded from higher educational opportunities. TREC scholars are working to change the narratives about who justice-impacted people are and what higher education can mean for students, families, and communities. 

Started in Fall 2021 at Stillwater Prison as a full-time, in-person bachelor’s degree program serving 45 students, TREC has since seen steady growth. In 2022, Metro State and Minneapolis College created the TREC Partnership to ensure shared operations in prisons, continuity of support, ease of transfer, and maintenance of a robust community of learners across the baccalaureate continuum. That year, both programs were awarded Second Chance Pell eligibility from the Department of Education, which enabled incarcerated people to access Pell grants and provided a pathway to program expansion and long-term sustainability. The TREC Partnership now operates in three Minnesota prisons, servingmore than 200 students across both programs. As a current student notes, “TREC has given me a sense of purpose in this world. I now feel that I can overcome the systemic barriers in place and stop the intergenerational cycle of incarceration in my family.” 

While TREC’s graduation rates are impressive, the program’s impact goes much deeper. Built on core commitments to student agency and collective study, TREC has worked with students to develop robust programming and support, as well as innovative approaches to teaching and learning. In twice-weekly learning labs, TREC staff provide students with academic advising, tutoring, and community-building support. Even with Pell expansion, there are still relatively few bachelor’s degree programs offered in U.S. prisons, and those that exist tend to focus on a single discipline. With the support of a multi-year Humanities as Transformative Programming Mellon Foundation grant, TREC has leveraged the BA in Individualized Studies to develop a curriculum that enables students to focus their studies in one of four interdisciplinary areas: Science, Technology, and Health Studies; Law and Justice Studies; Markets and Communities; and Individualized and Interdisciplinary Studies. The grant also supports frequent book talks from visiting scholars and TREC’s innovative Research Cluster program. While not presuming honors designations, Research Clusters facilitatedeeper collaborations between students and faculty, providing opportunities for sustained engagement around a core research question. Organized as groups of 8 or fewer students working alongside a faculty facilitator, recent clusters have explored the history of the Rice County Poor Farm, redlining and the generational consequences of the Homeowners' Loan Corporation in Chicago, public narrative, the history of solitary confinement in Minnesota, and academic reentry. 

As TREC has grown and an increasing number of students have returned home, it has transitioned from being solely a college in prison program to a comprehensive higher educational ecosystem for justice-impacted students. This ecosystem provides continuity for students transitioning out of incarceration with a community-based approach called “academic reentry.” Now named the REBUILD Project, TREC’s academic reentry program was started by a justice-impacted Metro State graduate student in 2023 and has since grown to support over 20 students. REBUILD is currently led by a full-time reentry navigator, a graduate student reentry coordinator, and an academic transitions AmeriCorpsVISTA project coordinator, with a mission “to empower justice-impacted individuals to rebuild from the inside out through education, mentorship, leadership, and community connection—creating a foundation for lifelong success and freedom.” The reentry team provides wraparound support, leveraging available campus resources to break barriers to education, housing, and wellness. With a grant from the Shavlik Family Foundation, the REBUILD Project can providereentering students with laptop and digital literacy training. And grants from the Sunshine Lady Foundation and Sandy Burton support student employment, cost-of-living aid, and emergency assistance. 

More than merely a space for reentry support, the REBUILD Project also provides a platform for justice-impacted student leadership. In collaboration with the University of Illinois’ Education Justice Project, students have developed a statewide reentry guide. The Mellon Foundation grant has supported the Justice-Impacted Community Builders group, which has formed the SOLVE student group, led several campus cultural and workforce events, and will be launching a video podcast and other multimedia initiatives. 

More than 95% of people incarcerated in Minnesota will eventually be released, and every year, almost 7,000 incarcerated Minnesotans return home to their communities. Studies have shown that access to higher education plays a significant role in breaking cycles of reincarceration, and that less than 5% of incarcerated students who have obtained a bachelor’s degree will get caught up in carceral systems again after release. TREC is a shining example of Metro State’s vision to “remove barriers to access and success and propel the social and economic mobility of diverse learners and their communities.” Through TREC, justice-impacted scholars are transforming their communities, bringing vitality to both the prison and main campuses, and continuing Metro State’s long history as a place where post-traditional students can set the course for more vibrant futures themselves and their families.  

Travis Sands is the executive director of the Prison Education Program at Metro State University. Brett King is a student at Metro State in the College of Individuated Studies.