From the beginning of the first PSCE classes in 1956 through the early 1990's, PSCE programs proliferated until there were 772 on-site prison college programs operating in the 1,287 correctional institutions in the United States in 1992. The primary funding source for these programs was the Pell Grant. With the passage of the renamed Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, however, prisoners were excluded from the Pell Basic Education Opportunity Grant. Since the loss of Pell Grant funding eligibility for prisoner-students and the resulting closure of PSCE programs across the country, there has been a slight recovery as diverse alternative funding methods have been developed. Without an annual source of centralized funding, however, prospects for a PSCE program in a given prison depend on the efforts of individual correctional education directors and their success in developing funding for PSCE programs. Four funding/alternative program provisions have been proposed: Pell-based Tuition Repayment/Reparation Program (TR-W/R), phone-commission rebate, on-site college credit programs, and for-profit university tax-credit donation programs. The first of these options is described in this article. The last three will be reviewed in part two. The TR-W/R is a legislative proposal based on modified Pell Grant funding for PSCE prisoner-students. It will require prisoner-students to make substantial contributions for the cost of their education, with a portion of their repayment being in credits for satisfactory completion of productive work or community service performed during incarceration. Any remaining debt would be paid after release to a Victim Reparations Fund or by certified community services. 39 references