I'm not so sure. Congress provides funding, but the executive branch runs the depts and sets the rules. I don't believe the Congress passed any funding requiring criminals be given freebies.
@bilo I believe that is/was being done at the state level before I got kicked out of college for getting into a "discussion" with a punk-ass professor that thought he could talk down to me and even threaten me because I was a veteran,and "VN vets were all punks who lost a war against a bunch of peasants,unlike those of us in WW-2". I kindly pointed out to him in front of the whole class that I knew he had served all of WW-2 serving in the USCG in Portsmouth,Virginia,helping customs inspect incoming ships,and asked him to tell us all about the many battles HE fought in. Then I got in his face and told him a bunch of other things he didn't seem to like hearing,and may have offered to tune him up a little with an attitude adjustment.
We both learned a lesson that day. My lesson was that "Yes,a veteran really CAN lose their GI Bill if a professor complains about them to the VA." Had better than a 3.0 average taking 18 credit hours and having to work,too. After getting the boot my plan was to lay low for a year or so,and then pay him a visit,but he was no longer there the following year. I guess they gave him the boot,too.
Anyhow,back on subject,there were several prisoners from a local prison attending classes every day there. They were wearing civilian clothes and no ankle bracelets or anything else that would identify them as prisoners,but getting off and then back on the prison bus every day was a sure tip-off. And yes,the state was paying their tuition. I know this because I asked how someone in prison could pay for college.
There were also black students attending classes with me at least one day a week. Most would just show up on test day,put their names on the test papers,and then turn them back in and leave again. They were also getting paid to attend classes in addition to having free tuition because the college was REQUIRED by law to have a certain percentage of their students be minority students,or risk losing state and federal grant money.
I lost a lot of faith in the value of a college education without completing a single year.
Ironically enough,I took a test before leaving the army that gave me the equivalent of 2 years of college,but this college wouldn't recognize it, so I was a freshman.