Gillibrand, Schumer Call On Education Secretary McMahon To Rescind And Reissue TRIO Grant Announcements

Gillibrand, Schumer Call On Education Secretary McMahon To Rescind And Reissue TRIO Grant Announcements

May 6, 2026

Senators Sound Alarm about "Fundamental Shift" in Program Mission

Last week, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Charles Schumer called on U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to rescind and reissue the TRIO Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) program grant announcements and extend the current grants for another year. This comes after the Education Department announced that these grants, which have historically focused on strengthening the college pipeline for underprivileged students, would shift focus to push these students into the trades, among other drastic changes to the programs.

TRIO Programs are federal outreach and student services grants designed to support low-income, first-generation college students and individuals with disabilities, ranging from middle school to post-baccalaureate studies. Talent Search programs target middle and high school students, and EOC programs focus on adults, displaced workers, and veterans seeking to enter or return to postsecondary education.

The grant announcements that the administration posted in March 2026 fundamentally compromised program mission and capacity, risking critical service interruptions for current students. New York State has a substantial TRIO Talent Search footprint, serving 8,081 students in FY2025 with a grant total of $4,654,218. New York also had three EOC projects in FY2025 with $809,549 in grant funding.

In a letter to Secretary McMahon, the senators underscored the importance of the programs in their current forms, writing, "TRIO has led to higher rates of college enrollment, completion, employment, and compensation for more than 6 million graduates since 1964."

The senators continued, "Elevating non-college pathways within a program historically designed to increase college enrollment and completion conflicts with TRIO's established statutory purpose and does a disservice to the students facing barriers to higher education that the programs are intended to serve."

Gillibrand and Schumer warned that the Education Department's new framework constitutes a direct assault on college access, effectively dismantling the TRIO mission by slashing national capacity by more than half, prioritizing state-level "mega-grants" over local expertise, and introducing a high-stakes lottery system that threatens to leave students in rural and underserved areas in "service deserts" without support. The new applications shift the programs' focus away from TRIO's statutory mission of promoting college access for low-income and first-generation students. Instead, the requirements emphasize apprenticeships and technical education as alternative routes to economic mobility. The senators pointed out that while apprenticeships and technical education have inherent value, those goals should be accomplished via other mechanisms rather than cannibalizing the funds that promote college access for low-income and first-generation students.

The senators closed by highlighting the time-sensitive nature of this request, as the current grants are set to expire on August 31, 2026. They wrote that this raises the imminent risk of service lapses, warning, "If the applications are not adjusted or reissued immediately, the potential expiration of current grants poses an immediate threat to the academic and financial guidance that students and adult learners depend on, particularly as they navigate the critical fall enrollment window." The announcements undercut the core mission of the programs that have provided life-changing educational opportunities to Americans across the country.

The full letter can be found HERE.

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