White Mountains Community College (WMCC) was one of four New England institutions selected to receive a $100,000 grant to strengthen credit transfer options for incarcerated and reentering students. The grant was awarded through the New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC) Accelerator Grant program, a five-year initiative funded by Ascendium Education Group and led by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE).

WMCC launched the program in March 2023, offering Liberal Arts and Business Administration associate degrees at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility (NNHCF) in Berlin to prepare incarcerated individuals for life and employment after release, support rehabilitation, reduce recidivism and enhance facility safety. Students are enrolled full-time, with onsite instruction from WMCC faculty four evenings per week using the same curriculum offered at the college.

In May 2025, the program’s inaugural class of 16 individuals earned their degrees with 14 walking to accept their diplomas at the graduation ceremony. The New Hampshire Department of Corrections honored WMCC as its Community Partner of the Year for the program’s success. This year’s graduating class marked the second formal graduation at NNHCF, bringing the total number of graduates to 23 since the program’s inception.

Last year, WMCC received its first NEPEC Accelerator Grant to begin expanding the program to the New Hampshire Correctional Facilities for Men and Women in Concord, in collaboration with NHTI–Concord’s Community College.

“WMCC’s mission is to provide education to anyone who seeks it, and this milestone proves that someone’s past record doesn’t have to close the door on a future for these students or their families,” said Sarmad Saman, WMCC president.

This second Accelerator Grant will help develop two new 2+2 transfer pathways between WMCC and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) at NNHCF. The pathways will allow students to progress from WMCC’s associate degrees into bachelor’s degrees in Business Management and Human Services at UNH. It will mark the first time incarcerated individuals in New Hampshire have access to baccalaureate-level programming inside a state correctional facility.

WMCC’s prison education program is approved by the NH Department of Education and authorized by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) as a Second Chance Pell Program, allowing incarcerated students to apply federal Pell Grants toward their coursework, covering the full cost of their classes in most cases.

In addition to WMCC, this year’s NEPEC Accelerator Grants were awarded to Connecticut State Community College, Massasoit Community College and Middlesex Community College. This is the second of three planned years of Accelerator Grant funding.