Budget constraints affecting the correctional system are linked to an escalating crime rate and prison overcrowding. Further, a 1988 American Bar Association report warns that answers to the growing crime problem are not as simple as merely arresting more individuals and imposing longer prison sentences. Rehabilitation should be a key correctional focus, and postsecondary correctional education (PSCE) represents a cost-effective rehabilitative approach to reducing offender recidivism. PSCE programs have significantly improved participant outcomes primarily by enhancing their employment prospects. PSCE graduates are employed at higher rates than other released offenders, and program participants tend to exhibit more socially positive behavior upon release. Nearly all States offer some form of PSCE programming because they recognize that such programs represent a cost-effective approach to offender rehabilitation. 46 references