Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), alongside Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), are calling on U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to rescind the TRIO Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Center grant competition announcements and for current programs to receive a one-year extension. The push comes after changes were made to the applications that would threaten the future programs of organizations who receive these grants and the Granite State students and families they serve. In their letter, the New Hampshire Congressional delegation notes that the Department’s changes to applications for both grant programs alters the scope from supporting postsecondary access for first-generation and disadvantaged students to a focus on workforce training.
The Congressional delegation wrote, in part: “As members of the New Hampshire Congressional delegation and as strong supporters of TRIO, we write with serious concern over the Trump Administration’s actions to weaken and divert the focus of the Federal TRIO programs away from college preparation, access, and success […] Congress established TRIO in the 1960s with the intent of helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds complete high school, access postsecondary education, and graduate from college. TRIO invests in the potential that all students have to succeed in college and helps students and their families realize that potential by breaking down barriers to access and support.”
They continued: “The Department of Education’s March 17 grant competition announcement for the TRIO TS program and the March 30 grant competition announcement for the TRIO EOC program would significantly shift the purpose and structure of these programs from postsecondary access and success to a focus on workforce training. Extensive workforce training programs, which this delegation strongly supports, already exist […] TRIO serves an important complementary purpose to those workforce programs, especially for first-generation college students and students from low-income backgrounds, by supporting them in preparing for and succeeding in the postsecondary education of their choice as they pursue their goals. Your effort to change the TRIO program focus and funding from postsecondary education access and success risks diluting the programs’ effectiveness and potentially limits students’ options. Students from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds need more, not less, support to achieve their college dreams.”
They concluded: “We urge the Department of Education to rescind, revise and re-issue the March 2026 TS and EOC grant announcements to advance the mission of the TRIO programs as Congress intended. We request that you ensure there is no lapse in TRIO program operations during this competition revision process. We also request that current TRIO TS and EOC grantees in good standing receive a one-year extension of their grants to ensure uninterrupted service to the hundreds of thousands of students and families that rely on their services.”
The full text of the letter can be found HERE.
Congresswoman Goodlander and the entire Congressional delegation have been outspoken in standing up for Granite State students in the wake of the Trump Administration’s cuts to programs that support New Hampshire’s schools and universities. In September, the delegation called on the U.S. Department of Education to restore Congressionally approved funding for the Education Alliance for New Hampshire’s Statewide Family Engagement Center grant, TRIO grants for the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) Talent Search and McNair programs and the state’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP).
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