By October 2014, I logged thousands of hours during more than ten years as a prison missionary. During this time, many supporters and friends kept asking the same thing:

 

"How can we help keep inmates from going back to prison once they are released?"

 

Incarceration-involved friends kept answering: COLLEGE EDUCATION. Even though I had my doubts, research verified that a quality college education does more than any other effort to help people leave prison for good. So, Likewise College was born.

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I discovered that while most incarcerated high school graduates want to learn more, most of them feel discouraged by the price-tag and feeling either alone during distance studies or being "preached down to" in the classroom. I kept saying:

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"I know how you feel. I felt the same way. We found something different."

 

I went back the mentors and classmates from my doctoral program who seemed to genuinely care for others. I asked for their help. This team of academic professionals got together to integrate nearly five-thousand years of research related to human learning and created a simple program that helps you:

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• gain subject knowledge,

• sharpen your self-learning skills,

• develop a servant-leader's heart, and

• build meaningful relationships.

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Our certified, evidence-based college degree programs balance just the right training, in just the right amounts, at just the right time. It works. And it's good enough for anyone who wants to overcome their weaknesses and learn how to self-lead.

 

"Likewise gives me hope that I can succeed during and after college. Even though it's more challenging than regular school, you keep it simple to learn. And you're rewarding me more than just how I think or what I think I know." – Chris S.

 

Five years later, Hundreds of your incarceration-involved neighbors have received seven simple learning skills and received life-changing college credits. They're becoming more capable spouses, parents, and citizens thanks to people like you. Through it all we’ve seen over and over: the key to learning is in your hands.

 

Likewise has become perhaps more than a dream. It's a way anyone cam earn a real and affordable degree while changing the world. We plan to add other social causes, like rehab-residents, foster-involved families, and people trapped in poverty because this feels more like a calling than a college. It’s an honor to serve you. When I say that I’m grateful for you, I mean it. Thank you — Jeff