TRIO, a long-standing federal college access program, has come under fire at the White House, with Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump requesting the complete elimination of the program. TRIO scholars, advisors, and directors across the country are calling on peers to preserve it.  

On May 2, 2025, the White House issued their Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Discretionary Budget Request, stating “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…IHEs should be using their own resources to engage with k-12 schools in their communities to recruit students, and then once those students are on campus, aid in their success through to graduation. 

“A renewed focus on academics and scholastic accomplishment by IHEs, rather than engaging in woke ideology with federal taxpayer subsidies, would be a welcome change for students and the future of the nation.” 

The Discretionary Budget Request is only that – a request. The TRIO grant is a Congress-allocated grant. The White House does not have the authority to eliminate it, but President Trump’s Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, has been attempting to stretch their influence and cut corners by bypassing Congress. 

McMahon’s mission as Secretary of the Department of Education is to dismantle the department entirely. 

“I just think that we aren’t able to see the effectiveness across the board that we would normally look to see with our federal spending,” McMahon said before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s education subcommittee in defense of the budget request. “The Department of Education has no ability to go in and look at the accountability of TRIO.” 

JCCI is a grant-writing firm that supports colleges and students in all sectors of higher education. JCCI helps colleges secure federal grants and also provides external evaluation services (audits) of the grant-funded programs. President Judy Taylor reflects on the administration’s proposed elimination and cuts. “While the administration touts support for low-income and middle-income citizens, the cumulative effect of elimination of TRIO programs and Title III Strengthening Institution Programs as well as cuts to PELL ultimately target and hurt those most vulnerable.

“These programs are not a hand-out – they are a hand-up; they are evaluated and held accountable via their Annual Performance Reports where the measurable outcomes of the programs are detailed to ensure accountability. Helping students understand how to ‘do’ college and be successful is not ‘woke ideaology’ as Secretary McMahon asserts.”

According to the 2024 TRIO Factbook, “An estimated 844,000 low-income, first-generation students, and students with disabilities — from sixth grade through college graduation — are served by nearly 3,000 programs nationally. More than 1,000 colleges, universities, community colleges, and agencies now offer TRIO Programs in America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands.”

Ay Saechao, Highline College’s Dean of Student Support and Funding Services, said, “Our TRIO students graduate 40-50% higher than other students on campus, transfer at double the rate [than non-TRIO students]… so they’re making a huge impact.” 

Saechao is Highline’s founding TRIO advisor. In an interview, he walked through the process of TRIO’s work and success. 

“Every year, the TRIO has to submit Annual Performance Reports (APRs) to the DOE… If TRIO doesn’t do that work, they can be defunded. They have to submit this data regarding their students,” he said. 

Despite the TRIO grant being a 5-year grant, TRIO programs must submit their APRs each year for the funds to be renewed. The grant is point-based, and programs that do not receive enough points have their funding revoked. 

McMahon claims the DOE does not have access to these APRs in order to evaluate the effectiveness or hold directors accountable. Saechao shared Highline’s TRIO APRs for the Talent Search (TS) Program and Student Support Service (SSS) with the ThunderWord.

Highline College has 145 SSS scholars and 500 TS scholars. They received shy of half a million dollars in funding from Congress through the TRIO grant. 

Statewide, TRIO receives roughly $30 million in funding for its 21,000 students. 

Tolu Taiwo is the TRIO Director at Clover Park College – a position she transferred to after serving as Highline’s own TRIO Director. She said that one of the most valuable practices of TRIO are the one-on-one advising sessions with students. These sessions are not necessarily covering classes or degree options, but breaking down understandings. 

College has a language – its own sets of terms and concepts, vocabulary, and culture. Stepping into that culture is difficult, and college access programs, such as TRIO, serve as translators, interpreters, bridging the gap between daunting academia and first-generation families. 

A first generation college student is someone defined as “a student with neither parent having earned a baccalaureate degree.” Even the term baccalaureate (a college bachelor’s degree) is intimidating enough, and not in the common vernacular. 

“One of the basic things we don’t realize can be confusing is the term ‘office hours’. So I’ll break that down to students, what does that mean and what exactly it’s there for,” Taiwo said. Taiwo referred to the “hidden curriculum” of college: “The institutional culture and unspoken norms and expectations that influence academic and post-graduation success.” 

Tony Au, Highline’s current TRIO director, explained what the program does on a day-to day basis. “Danke [an advisor] spends nearly 75%-80% of her day meeting with students… And there’s so much that happens outside of the meetings: follow up emails, taking notes, referrals, contacting departments.” 

“We focus on the relationship. That’s what matters to us, so people come to us to figure out how to work with other departments…. I’ve helped students who didn’t get financial aid, or on suspension… That’s the number two outside of classes or transferring: financial aid. We’re like financial advisors in a way.” 

At the national level, the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE)  is reaching out and writing to representatives and senators. A spring quarter email asked Highline students, staff, and faculty to fill out a “What TRIO means to me” survey. According to the TRIO Advocacy blueprint, these responses will be compiled and sent to COE to hand deliver to representatives on Capital Hill in Washington D.C. in September. 

One of the responses to the survey from an anonymous student read, “TRIO has lifted so many worries, stresses, and fears the last 5 months of me being in school, even when I took a quarter off. TRIO has done so much to help make sure that I’m able to be at my best, they help me find food programs, housing programs, they’ve even helped me find programs to help with paying my tuition. I’m homeless and 21 and they have been the best thing to happen to me. I wouldn’t have been able to survive without the help from TRIO.”

They are also asking people to post their experiences with TRIO under the #TRIOworks on social media. 

In 1965, while marginalized communities were fighting for equal rights, President Lyndon B. Johnson worked with Congress to pass the Higher Education Act, under the belief that higher education was “no longer a luxury but a necessity.” Two principles came from that bill: families across the country should have access to college success, as well as the funds to do so. 

TRIO grew out of the Higher Education Act of 1965. What started as three access programs has grown to support first generation and low-income students from grade school to doctoral degrees. 

The mission of TRIO follows those principles. 

“The first TRIO programs that were created…Talent Search, Student Support Services, and Upward Bound…Those three programs, those trio of programs, gave TRIO its name,” Saechao said. “There are far more than three programs now.” 

In 2008, TRIO eligibility was expanded with the Higher Education Act to include homeless youth, those in foster care, English as a Second Language learners, students with disabilities, and other disconnected students.

According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the appropriations process for FY 2026 has begun. Spending caps put in place in 2023 have expired, so “the Budget Committees of the House and the Senate should debate a new resolution for FY 2026, where a new topline level for discretionary spending will be decided.”

As for next steps, there is still time to reach out to local representatives and advocate for equal access to college. 

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.