From?next year, the ¨C an online form that enables students to apply to the 800 or so colleges that use it ¨C will no longer .

As a formerly incarcerated person who is now an endocrinologist and professor at two world-renowned medical institutions ¨C Johns Hopkins Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine ¨C I believe this move is a positive one. People¡¯s prior convictions should not be held against them in their pursuit of higher learning.

While I am enthusiastic about the decision to remove the criminal history question from the Common Application, I also believe more must be done to remove the barriers that exist between formerly incarcerated individuals, such as myself, and higher education.

I make this argument not only as a formerly incarcerated person who now teaches aspiring medical doctors, but also as an . The organisation I lead, From Prison Cells to PhD, helped for the change on the Common Application.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

There was a time not so long ago when some in the legal system believed I did not deserve a chance. With three felony convictions, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking as a prior and persistent career criminal. My prosecuting attorney once stated that I had .

Today, I am Dr Stanley Andrisse. As a professor at Johns Hopkins and Howard universities, I now help train students who want to be doctors. I would say that I have changed. Education was transformative.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

The US needs more of the transformative power of education. The country incarcerates more people and at a than any other nation in the world.?

Education provides opportunities for people with criminal records to move beyond their experience with the penal system and reach their full potential. The more education a person has, . Similarly, the more education a person has, .

I had a bachelor¡¯s degree by the time I went to prison but never got the chance to use it. Then something tragic happened while I was serving time that prompted me to see the need to further my education. My father had his legs amputated as a result of?diabetes complications. He fell into a coma and lost his battle with Type 2 diabetes. I was devastated. This experience made me want to learn more about how to fight this disease.

While incarcerated, I applied to six biomedical graduate programmes. I was rejected from all but one ¨C Saint Louis University. Notably, I had a mentor from Saint Louis who served on the admission committee. Without that personal connection, I¡¯m not sure I would?ever have had a second chance.

Based on the difficulty I experienced going from prison to becoming a college professor, I believe there are things that should be done to remove barriers for incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people who wish to pursue higher education.

One of those barriers is cost. When the government removed Pell funding from prisons by issuing the ¡°tough on crime¡± , of colleges offering courses in prison stopped.?

Because of?the federal ban on receiving Pell grants while incarcerated, most of those serving time cannot afford to take college courses while in prison.?

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

The Obama administration took a step toward trying to restore Pell grants for those in prison with the . The programme has given more than? across the nation the chance to use Pell grants toward college courses in prison.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

Through the programme, 67 colleges and universities are working with to provide college courses to the incarcerated.

Under the Trump administration, this programme is at the end of 2018.

Another barrier is allowing prior convictions?to count against individuals?in their pursuit of higher learning. Federal policymakers could increase opportunities by removing on the federal student aid form that asks if applicants have been convicted of drug crimes.?

A found that nearly 66 percent of would-be undergraduates who disclosed a conviction on their college application did not finish their application.

This question also disproportionately affects people of colour, since . Furthermore, the question runs the risk of making formerly incarcerated people feel isolated and less valuable than those who have never?been in trouble with the law.

When people who have been incarcerated begin to feel like they don¡¯t belong and higher education is not for them,?they?are unlikely to?realise their potential.?It will be as if we have locked them up and thrown away the key.

This is a shorter version of that first appeared on The Conversation.?

Stanley?Andrisse is an assistant professor at the Howard University College of Medicine and an adjunct assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥