18-05-2025
Trump plan to cut programs that get poor kids into college makes no sense
Calling a 61-year-old federally funded project 'a relic of the past' is insulting, not because I'm just a few years older than the Upward Bound program that continues to provide a vital service in guiding low-income students into college.
Clearly, the Trump administration's effort to eliminate Upward Bound, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate and other programs known by the acronym of TRIO, to trim 15% from federal education spending to allow for generous tax cuts to billionaires is not only short-sighted but also dumb.
How can they justify erasing programs that help get poor students into college, where they will move up the economic ladder and bring their families along with them?
They can't.
But Russell T. Vought, executive director of the president's Office of Management and Budget, gave it a try.
Opinion
'TRIO and GEAR UP are a relic of the past when financial incentives were needed to motivate Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) to engage with low-income students and increase access,' Vought said in a May 2 letter to Sen. Susan Collins in which he outlined President Donald Trump's recommendations on discretionary spending for 2026.
'Today, the pendulum has swung and access to college is not the obstacle it was for students of limited means,' said Vought, who added that institutions of higher education should fund those programs rather than engaging in woke ideology with federal taxpayer subsidies.'
There are seven TRIO programs, each designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. They range from Veterans Upward Bound to Educational Opportunity Centers to Educational Talent Search.
I wish some of them had been in place when I was graduating from Delano High School, where I never had a counselor point me toward college or explain how to fill out college applications.
Christopher Navas, an 18-year-old student at Riverdale High, is more fortunate. The Fresno State-bound Navas, who plans to major in mechanical engineering, is the second-youngest of seven children of a farm irrigation manager and a merchandiser.
'I'm so grateful that I took the risk to join ETS (Fresno State Educational Talent Search) because this simple program that was supposed to motivate students to pursue a higher education impacted my life significantly,' said Navas at Wednesday's ceremony honoring 23 TRIO graduates at his school.
Navas said he was ambivalent about college until a summer program in his sophomore year introduced him to college majors and helped him establish relationships with college staff. A trip to Disneyland remains a highlight.
Once in the program, Navas became more active in school, joining the baseball team and clubs and getting 'out of his comfort zone.'
Olga Núñez, director of the Educational Talent Search at Fresno State, said 94% of the 680 high school students with 62% of all California students.
The program gets $370,000 of federal funds for a staff of two counselors, an administrative assistant and Núñez. When money is available, student assistants are hired.
The return on investment is impressive: 91% graduate with the requirements to get into college (vs. a 45.3% state average); and 91% graduate from high school (vs. 52.7% average at Riverdale High, 48.5% at Mendota High).
'They need to want to go to college,' said Núñez, who stressed her team can't promote students to go to Fresno State. 'Maybe they don't know where, or what major, but we want to increase high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates.'
This TRIO program is critical because sometimes working-class parents with no college experience don't know how to prepare their children for college. Any help parents can get is sorely needed.
According to the Sacramento-based Public Policy Institute of California, high school students from the San Joaquín Valley are less likely to attend and graduate from college than their counterparts in the rest of the state. Only 26% of ninth graders in the region are on a path to earn a bachelor's degree (vs. 35% statewide), and only 57% of high school graduates attend public or nonprofit colleges (vs. 65% statewide).
Núñez was among those notified earlier this month about the Trump administration's desire to cut funding. TRIO programs are required to submit annual progress reports to remain eligible for 5-year grants. Núñez is preparing to submit another grant for the cycle starting in the 2026-27 school year.
A May 7 webinar organized by the Council for Opportunity in Education ran out of space after organizers were flooded by more than 5,000 requests. A follow-up session is scheduled for May 22 for TRIO educators.
Organizers want to remain nonpartisan because the TRIO program has gotten support from both Republicans and Democrats. Of more than 200 representatives who have signed a letter of support for TRIO for the 2026 fiscal year, only 63 are Democrats.
The Fresno State TRIO programs are among 3,500 at more than 1,000 colleges and universities in the country. They help 870,000 students through individualized counseling, advising and other services.
The letter explains why TRIO works: 'Since their inception in 1964, TRIO programs have produced over 6 million college graduates. Research demonstrates that college graduates have lower rates of unemployment, pay more in federal taxes, and earn a million dollars more throughout their working lives than non-college graduates.'
What is so difficult to understand that eliminating TRIO funding is bad for the country? It seems like Trump and his advisors need some education.
