Marietta, Georgia – December 11, 2025-  Life University (Life U) is proud to join the multi-institutional first cohort of 20+ colleges and universities participating in the Prison Education Initiative (PERI). As part of its commitment to promote compassionate learning, Life U has the distinction of being the first Georgia college or university to provide a degree program in prison, through its Chillon Project, since 1994. The Chillon Project began in 2015, and since its inception, it has assisted dozens of incarcerated individuals in achieving higher education degrees and opened up possibilities for greater opportunities post-incarceration.

Joining forces with PERI in their efforts “to collect systematic and longitudinal data on prison education (PEP) programs, their students and their outcomes,” this initiative will help the Chillon Project and other PEP programs gain greater credibility in “that practitioners can use these data to best support incarcerated students and alumni” as outlined by a press release published by Prison Education Action Research Lab (PEARL), the nation’s first prison education research center, which is conducting PERI. PERI will also provide relevant, timely evidence of PEP Programs’ efficacy to policymakers to enhance state and federal policies supporting incarcerated students, particularly as PEP programs grow and expand.

The inaugural PERI co-hort includes:

  • Life University, Georgia
  • Adams State University, Colorado
  • Arkansas State University-Newport, Arkansas
  • Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, North Carolina
  • Augustana College, Illinois
  • Barton Community College, Kansas
  • Charles Stewart Mott Community College, Michigan
  • Chemeketa Community College, Oregon
  • Connecticut State Community College, Connecticut
  • Cornell University, New York
  • Davis Technical College, Utah
  • Lee College, Texas
  • Marian University, Indiana
  • Metropolitan Community College, Nebraska
  • Metropolitan State University, Minnesota
  • Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, North Carolina
  • Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri
  • University of Puget Sound, Washington
  • University of Saint Mary, Kansas
  • Voorhees University, South Carolina
  • Wesleyan University, Connecticut

Founded in 1974, Life University is a health sciences institution most known for its College of Chiropractic, the largest single-campus College of Chiropractic in the world. Undergraduates can pursue 12 undergraduate degrees; a pre-chiropractic, degree-seeking pathway; and three graduate degrees within the College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies. Some degree programs are offered to distance learners through the College of Online Education.

Life U strives to empower our students to succeed both professionally and personally. At Life U, we innovate our approach to higher education while also remaining true to our philosophical commitment to produce informed leaders who exemplify humanistic values in their professions. To achieve this goal, Life U recognizes and demonstrates its dedication through three official Life University values: Lasting Purpose, Vitalism and Integrity.

Life U’s 110-acre campus in Marietta, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta, is home to more than 2,400 undergraduate, graduate and professional students who come from all 50 United States and more than 60 countries.

For more information about Life University, please visit life.edu.

To learn more about the Chillon Project, please visit Compassion. life.edu/Chillon-Project/.

About Life University

Life University is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, master’s and Doctor of Chiropractic degrees, and also has programmatic accreditation through the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) and the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). The mission of Life University is to empower students with the education, skills and values necessary for career success and life fulfillment, based on a vitalistic philosophy.