FRANKLIN, N.H. (WCAX) – Educators across the region are bracing for federal funding cuts that not only target college scholarships, but also the grants that help prepare kids to pursue higher education. It comes as cash-strapped public school districts are facing additional federal cuts that target kids in some of the region’s most rural and underserved areas.
Caylee Livingstone is a seventh grader at Franklin Middle School and wants to be a veterinarian. Her college tours have already begun.
“We got to go to Plymouth State University on a field trip, and it was just really cool to get to see a college campus,” Livingstone said.
But millions of dollars in grants for federal programs like TRIO and GEAR UP, which help middle and high school students, are on the chopping block, according to New Hampshire Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander.
“In the grand scheme of the federal budget, we are talking about rounding errors. We’ve got a Department of Defense that has got a budget of $1 trillion with a T,” Goodlander said. The Democrat says around 5,500 rural and low-income students in the Granite State benefit from TRIO and GEAR UP. “Funding that these schools have planned on, that parents and students are relying on, and these programs have changed lives.”
And for some districts, there is no extra money to go around. “They’re limited resources right now,” said Kyle Deremer, the GEAR UP navigator for the Claremont School District. He says their district faces a budget deficit of as much as $5 million. School positions have already been axed, and there are worries about what additional program cuts will mean for the community.
“They are fundraising for their own classroom supplies and a lot of things that they weren’t expecting to have to do.”
With at least a dozen years until she might attend college, Livingstone is staying positive as she looks to the future. “I don’t think they have a veterinarian program, but it was still cool to talk to the people who were going into human medicine,” she said.
Educators say it’s not just about the kids who directly benefit from the programs, but also the workforce they help build down the road.
https://www.wcax.com/2025/09/23/goodlander-hosts-roundtable-federal-education-funding-cuts
