Governor Cuomo announced a plan to provide college courses to people in prison under a new initiative with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance.

In an interview, Mr. Vance acknowledged that such programs have always faced an uphill battle in the State Legislature, usually running into obstacles in the Republican-controlled Senate, because some conservative lawmakers consider it unfair to underwrite education for prisoners when scholarships for law-abiding people are scarce.

But Mr. Vance said that expanding college programs for inmates makes sense from a crime-fighting standpoint because studies have shown that inmates who earn a college degree are less likely to return to prison.

“If we don’t provide an exit strategy for ex-offenders, they are just going to be re-offenders,” Mr. Vance said. “It’s just really common sense.”

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