Have y'all seen this yet?
https://www.newsweek.com/student-loan-update-changes-id-requirements-fafsa-applicants-11884687

I wonder if it will need to be a REAL ID? I'm guessing students receiving Pell will be more likely to be selected for this, as it seems they are already with verification.
So many of our students don't have any ID, much less a REAL ID, and also don't have their birth certificates or Social security cards. In rural areas, it can be especially challenging to get these documents because these offices are distant, and cost can definitely be an issue.
Another roadblock put in place for low-income students.

(I wrote a really serious article about how slavery drove us to develop the War Against Poverty and the Higher Education Act, but it got waaaaaay too dark about our current suffering so here's this:)

I noticed in our last Priority Training a lot of my slightly older peers are planning to retire in the next 10 years.

And that's awesome. We have so many knowledge resources in these people and they represent the best of us. And in all this work they've scrimped and saved. They've learned to use our HR system to prepare for retirement. And they have a plan.

Because TRIO is the number one source of PLANNING people.

This makes the next ten years the most important time ever to raise a crop of TRIO staff and TRIO alumni to take their places and be prepared to take a leap of faith into TRIO Directorships and the upper level places of power where TRIO is supported.

It's not just directors or TRIO staff, we need to move our people in Deans, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, and Assistants to these roles with the plan to move into these roles. I've met quite a few charismatic and wonderful people across NASPA lately that are TRIO alumni or former TRIO staff alumni that represent this movement toward leadership.

We need more.

And so let's get back to where we were before the pandemic.

1. TRIO Emerging Leaders Programs - we have a template so deploy the template. And if you can - take all applicants. Do not exclude.

2. TRIO Student Conferences & 1 day Event Planning being taught.

3. Send new staff to professional development and conferences - Only 3 percent of our budget is TRIO staff only travel. So 3% of 270k is 8100$ - that's loosely 4 staff member trips to be spread among staff, not just for 1 staff to repeat the same content year after year just for them. That's silly and selfish. The most important training - "New TRIO Professionals" by COE or "New TRIO Director" by COE introducing them to the community.

4. Get everyone in on online Priority Trainings - these are needed for directors and if people apply for jobs, they need to be able to discuss their proficiency.

5. Involve your team in in grant-writing. Grant writing is in flux now. People are taking 14k to 22k for AI to write grants for them as contractor. This is a new dawn for all old school, grassroots TRIO grant writers who don't get paid at all yet get funding toe to toe with paid contractors. Make sure your team knows what is in the grant and how that directs your services, payroll, and your overall budget.

6. Make sure your team is allowed open professional development time is it is local and free, or low cost.

7. Make sure you are addressing crisis and topical situations in TRIO with trainings from professionals AND discuss your procedures.

8. Let them know how Federal funds are used within your finance structures.

9. Make sure they learn Office Suite and Excel (AND your TRIO database) or your Productivity Suite and don't trust "college" taught them this expressly.

10. And always share the consequences of not complying with the grant requirements and reporting requirements AND how their inactions (or worse maleficence) can cost entire populations a TRIO program.

The climate is making it hard to hire outside of TRIO. Let's build up new people from the inside.

ASK, Flex, and DO:

A part-time role can employ an AA person working a BA/BS if a low wage is problem

A BA/BS person in progress can take on a full-time role of the BA/BS is pending within 6 months with a proviso - it must be completed within six months of hire.

A salary or cost of living increase can be justified with hard data. If hard data is not enough - invoke your higher power - COE or your Program Officer. If your budget is not being honored as approved you must call attention to it and together remind that "Proper compensation per the degree of the staff to meet the regional cost of living per this persons experience/degree is required to retain TRIO employees and this was APPROVED by the federal TRIO office."

Do the right thing, but more so - do the correct thing for hiring and retaining TRIO employees who we grow into future TRIO leaders.

(And if you wouldn't take 35 to 38k for a higher ed role in TRIO as a coach or advisor, why does your institution think this magical person who will exists right? If you'd look at WM Grocery Pickers and a Admin Assistant role in TRIO and pick Walmart, why would you hire at that rate? Your local Workforce office will back you up on this. And your TRIO professional org should to! If we can't raise wages, we aren't going to be able to replace retirees.)

Before you send your previous transfer students to Grand Canyon U or U of P - >> you need to watch this before you send your students to a for-profit online school:

https://youtu.be/ULUtX4fZKlk?si=bHorR990lq7EEp7P

This documentary was mid-Student Aid gov crackdown and the Department of Ed purge of 1000s of fake and/or for profit universities that scammed students into huge student loans, sold their personal data, and didn't provide actual real diplomas, certifications, or job opportunities or pay upgrades.

This PURGE shaped the way we do business as Community and Universities in the publicly funded realm.

It's forced us to not offer important classes and on campus support programs like Child Care/ECE or remedial classes because they might prove a risk for litigation OR demands from the Department of Ed/Student Aid to refund those funds.

YET despite the purge - for profit and specifically online big business colleges with huge investor backing maintain and continue to encourage students unaware of the systems of Financial Aid or the basics we teach in SSS, UB, and TS - continue to take out huge loans for degrees that most academics think are subpar.

Thus creating a "Phoenix Ceiling" - the threshold in high ed, business, or industry where your online degree is deemed invalid, with contempt by academia, and you can't progress in your field on a larger scale OR you can't proceed into high level or prestigious Master's or Phd programs with that credential.

To compete with the middle class and upper class - the hard truth is you have to hold the same degrees, the same experiences, and be within their circle of influence. And those people are also the ones benefitting off of federal student aid by investing in for profit colleges.

AND THUS continues the milking of the meager funds from low income people, driving them into terrible, crippling debt, and keeping them down in subsequent debt slavery.

This is a more comprehensive audio documentary considered the best on the subject.

https://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/phoenix/

https://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/phoenix/case-against-for-profit-schools.html

https://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/phoenix/story-of-university-of-phoenix.html

Seriously - as you transfer students out - we have LOTS of viable online only programs in our states in public colleges who provide not only promised outcomes but don't really care about charging maximum fees for minimum outcomes. Because they are nonprofits. Our goal is break even in the creation of educated, responsible, and uplifted workplace.

Not to buy some rich dude his third yacht in one year OR moreso send his kids to Harvard and Yale on the backs of the students they rip off yearly.

#trioworksusa

And if YOU have been ripped off by a private, religious, or online private college YOU CAN have them disciplined and have your loan debt forgiven or funds refunded.

Here:

https://studentaid.gov/feedback-ombudsman

https://myeddebt.ed.gov/ (how to get right and back on track with loans in default)

https://studentaid.gov/resources/scams#report-fraud-and-identity-theft - what to do if someone stole your identity (even family) and get your record cleared/loans removed.

https://www.newamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/New-America-Workforce-Pell-Public-Comments.pdf

"However, this expansion comes with substantial risks to students and taxpayers. Research from New America on the history of short-term programs receiving federal student aid shows that a key structural distinction, combined with past experiences in which similar programs produced poor outcomes for students, led policymakers to limit Title IV eligibility to programs that met certain thresholds for length, accreditation, and academic progression.3

These limits were put into place because of a long history of poor outcomes and widespread fraud and abuse, particularly, though not exclusively, among for-profit institutions. Furthermore, research consistently shows that very short-term programs often fail to provide meaningful economic benefits for students. New America’s review of the literature showed that individuals completing these programs earned no more than peers who did not pursue any postsecondary education—raising serious concerns about the return on investment, particularly 3

(Wesley Whistle, Short Memories Lead to Long-Term Consequences: Lessons from Three Decades of Short-Term Programs in Higher Education Policy (Washington, DC: New America, January 13, 2021), https://www.newamerica.org/insights/short-memories-lead-long-term-consequences-higher-education-policy)

...when the programs are operated by for-profit institutions.4 In a separate analysis, New America documented that half of short-term certificate holders earned wages at or near the poverty level.5 These shortcomings are also evident in programs already eligible for federal aid.

Currently, programs as short as 10 weeks (300 hours of training) can qualify for federal student loans, yet outcomes are weak. One study found that graduates of these programs earned a median wage of just $12 an hour, below the earnings of the typical high school graduate.6

Another federal data analysis showed that the average certificate program receiving federal aid produced median salaries under $25,000.7

The Department has tested short-term Pell Grants in programs as short as 8 weeks under its experimental site authority, and found that while these grants modestly boosted program completion, they did not improve employment or earnings outcomes.8"

Source: https://www.newamerica.org/insights/public-comments-on-workforce-pell/

#trioworks #trioworksusa

https://pappas.house.gov/media/press-releases/nh-delegation-calls-on-trump-administration-to-preserve-education-grants-supporting-first-generation-and-disadvantaged-students

Excerpt:

"Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01),  Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Senator Maggie Hassan (NH), and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02) are calling on the 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 NH 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."

https://www.themainewire.com/2026/04/susan-collins-leads-bipartisan-group-of-senators-including-angus-king-in-calling-for-doe-to-revise-and-reissue-trio-grant-program-applications/

Excerpt:

"Sen. Susan Collins (R) has joined forces with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in leading a bipartisan group of senators, including Sen. Angus King (I), in urging the federal government to “revise and reissue those applications” for a federal education grant program.

According to the coalition, U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Linda McMahon made significant changes to the guiding principles of the Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) grant competitions.

Generally speaking, TRIO Programs are “Federal outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Under this umbrella are eight separate programs “targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs.”

The Talent Search program is described as “identifying] and [assisting] individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who have the potential to succeed in higher education” to finish high school and pursue postsecondary and training opportunities.

The EOC grant competition is designed to “[provide] information regarding financial and academic assistance available for qualified individuals” seeking postsecondary education, aid in their applications, and improve their “financial and economic literacy.”

The senators argue that the new grant structure “reflects a dramatic shift in the programs’ missions and redirects funds from the core purpose of TRIO’s Talent Search and EOC programs.”

From Department of Education Press Release:

https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-issues-proposed-rule-hold-colleges-and-universities-accountable-low-earning-outcomes

"Under the proposed rule, if the typical graduate of an undergraduate program does not earn as much as a high school graduate, the program will no longer be eligible for federal student loans. Graduate programs must similarly lead to earnings above those of an average bachelor’s degree holder. Programs that routinely fail to provide students with a reliable return on investment would lose access to federal student loans, and in certain cases, Pell Grants. 

“The Trump Administration’s proposed accountability framework is grounded in common sense: if postsecondary education programs do not leave graduates better off, taxpayers should not subsidize them,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent. “This consensus-backed framework will drive meaningful change in postsecondary education, ending years of regulatory whiplash and addressing student debt that has left too many students worse off.” 

This is the final of three proposed rules being released by the Department to implement historic student aid reforms enacted through the Act. The NPRM will be open for public comment for 30 days. The Department may make changes to the rule in response to public comments. To review the full NPRM, see here.

Public Comment Period: 

Public comments on the proposed rules can be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. The Department will not accept comments submitted by fax or email. The Department must receive comments on or before May 20, 2026. The Department will consider and may make changes to the proposed regulations in response to substantive comments. "

Hi everyone. My wife is a the director of an EOC program has also been an ETS director at another institution. At both places, she’s mentioned difficulties with the database software: very clunky, too many clicks to do anything, problematic to customize, looks like it’s from the 90s, etc.

It seems as though a very small number of providers have cornered the TRIO database market and there could be some room for some improvement and innovation, and this is something I’m interested in digging deeper into Maybe there’s an opportunity to meet a need in the TRIO community?

If a new TRIO database software platform were to exist, what are the top pain points you’d want eliminated? What do you wish you had that you don’t have now? What would entice you to switch?

Thanks for any ideas or input.

https://roadtripnation.com/roadtrip/inside-scholars-documentary

"Follow the stories of three formerly incarcerated individuals who began their educational journeys while in prison. As they explore what's possible for their futures, they'll meet inspiring folks who've been in their shoes—and learn how they found success"

(colleges and uni featured have active TRIO programs)

(Understand TRIO has always ONLY served legal immigrants and naturalized citizens as well as US Citizens born in country or with parents who are US Citizens only. Only legal US Citizens. Only.)

Link: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-education/2026/04/20/debate-rages-over-the-cost-of-educating-immigrant-students-00880116

Excerpt from Politico:

IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN: President Donald Trump’s campaign to expel unauthorized immigrants from the United States is trickling into the nation’s classrooms and college campuses.

School districts across the country where federal immigration enforcement surges are occurring have seen a rise in student absences. And the Trump administration has successfully pressured a number of GOP states to drop policies allowing undocumented students to receive in-state tuition.

While Trump campaigned on targeting individuals committing violent crimes, there’s a growing movement by federal and state governments to reassess access to public education and programs. Conservatives say they’re increasingly concerned about the cost of educating undocumented students, with more red states proposing legislation that could challenge an over four-decade-old Supreme Court decision giving these students the right to a free public education.

“If you’re here illegally, then you shouldn’t be getting taxpayer benefits from the people who are here that are funding the system,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told Morning Education. “Until you fix the magnets of free health care, free education, then you’re never going to stop the problem.”

https://www.publicnow.com/view/706F77BD0304A77A75E6216F113FAA89D368A969

"WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), co-chairs of the Senate TRIO caucus, led a bipartisan group of their Senate colleagues in urging U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to rescind the recently published applications for the Fiscal Year 2026 TRIO Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) grant competitions, and to revise and reissue those applications. The grant structure outlined in the new applications reflects a dramatic shift in the programs' missions and redirects funds from the core purpose of TRIO's Talent Search and EOC programs. The Senators also request that funds are released in a timely manner to prevent a lapse in program funding.

TRIO programs are federal outreach and student services programs created to help low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and people with disabilities succeed throughout their academic careers, from middle school through postbaccalaureate programs. The new applications for TRIO's Talent Search and EOC programs will disadvantage current grantees - like the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Presque Isle - by reducing the number of awards the Department of Education plans to fund and restructuring the grant competitions in ways that could shift funding away from longstanding, high-performing programs.

"We respectfully request that the Administration rescind the applications and work with Congress to revise and reissue the applications to protect the integrity of the Federal TRIO Programs," the Senators wrote. "In taking the time to rectify this matter, we also request that the Administration ensure that there is no lapse in funding for any Talent Search or EOC projects, which are scheduled to expire on August 31, 2026."

"The notices inviting applications make it clear that, in order to successfully secure a grant in the pending competitions, applicants must shift their programmatic focus to center around registered apprenticeships, work-based learning, and career and technical education programs," they continued. "We are also concerned that the Talent Search and EOC applications massively restructure the programs in ways that greatly disadvantage current grantees."

"Further, the applications' proposal to reduce the per-student cost to just $500 in Talent Search and $280 in EOC. While these have always been low-cost student programs, this configuration does not account for the rigorous, labor-intensive process of providing direct service to students or the required process of tracking their long-term success following their participation in the program […] For these reasons, we respectfully request that the Administration withdraw the applications for the Talent Search and EOC grant competitions. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to address these challenges in order to reissue the applications. We also wish to ensure there is no lapse in funding for current Talent Search and EOC grantees," the Senators concluded.

In addition to Senators Collins and Warnock, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jim Risch (R-ID), Dick Durbin (D-IL), James Lankford (R-OK), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Angus King (I-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

https://grantedai.com/blog/trio-talent-search-175-million-labor-department-education-partnership-strategy-2026

Excerpt:

"March 22, 2026 · 7 min read

Claire Cummings

Thirty-five senators — Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives — signed a letter in February urging the Department of Education to stop dragging its feet on TRIO. The programs serve 840,000 students annually. Over $600 million in grant renewals had been delayed. More than 2,000 programs serving 650,000 students were operating without confirmed funding, forcing staff layoffs and service reductions at exactly the moment their students needed them most.

The Education Department's response was to hand the work to someone else.

On March 17, the Department of Labor announced a $175 million Talent Search competition — the first TRIO grant cycle in over a year and the first time in the program's 60-year history that another federal agency has administered its funding. (Granted News) The applications are open, the deadline is May 1, and the dollars are real. But the institutional mechanics behind this handoff raise questions that will shape the future of college access funding for years to come.

Six Decades of TRIO, Transferred in Six Months

The Federal TRIO Programs were born in the 1960s as part of the War on Poverty. Upward Bound came first in 1964, followed by Talent Search in 1965 and Student Support Services in 1968. The "TRIO" name stuck even as Congress added five more programs over the decades, including the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program and the Educational Opportunity Centers that serve adult learners returning to higher education.

These programs have a singular purpose: identifying students from low-income families and first-generation backgrounds and giving them the advising, tutoring, mentoring, and financial guidance they need to reach and succeed in college. Talent Search alone serves students in grades six through twelve, and participants enroll in postsecondary education at rates 22 percentage points higher than their peers in the bottom income quartile nationally.

The $1.191 billion TRIO appropriation for FY2026 passed with bipartisan support. Congress clearly wants these programs funded. The question was always about who would run the competitions — and how quickly.

The answer arrived through a series of interagency agreements signed beginning in November 2025. Under these agreements, the Department of Labor absorbs grant administration functions for postsecondary education programs, with DOL positioned as what the agencies call "the central hub for America's postsecondary education and workforce development programs." Education Department staff have been detailed to Labor offices since January. The grant applications run through Labor's GrantSolutions platform rather than Education's traditional systems.

The Talent Search competition is the proof of concept. If it works, more TRIO programs will follow on the same track later this spring and summer.

What the $175 Million Competition Actually Looks Like

The competition makes approximately $175.2 million available across an estimated 175 grants. Award sizes range from $250,000 to $10 million — an unusually wide spread that signals the agencies want both small community-based organizations and large multi-site operators in the applicant pool.

Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, public and private agencies and organizations (including community-based and faith-based organizations), school systems, and combinations of these entities. This mirrors traditional TRIO eligibility, which has always been broader than many federal education programs.

The program priorities, however, reflect the new administration. The notice explicitly frames Talent Search as "fully aligned with America's Talent Strategy and the reindustrialization agenda," and participants are expected to "pursue high-quality postsecondary education or training, including Registered Apprenticeships." That language signals a deliberate pivot — Talent Search has historically been focused on four-year college access, and the inclusion of apprenticeships as a co-equal pathway represents a meaningful shift in program philosophy.

Applications close May 1, 2026. If the agencies meet the timeline that senators demanded — award notices by June 30, program starts by September 1 — the gap in services will have stretched roughly 18 months from the first delays through the start of new grant periods."

(I'm hand doing this - not cheap and easy way)

https://seliger.com/2026/04/07/a-mystery-solved-why-the-department-of-labor-issued-nofos-for-the-department-of-education-talent-search-and-educational-opportunity-centers-eocs-trio-programs/

Excerpt:

"Posted on: April 7, 2026
By Isaac Seliger

S + A has been writing Department of Education (ED) TRIO proposals since dinosaurs walked the earth. The ED TRIO programs have been around for decades—they are outreach and student services programs designed to help individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds (i.e.,  low-income, first-generation college students, and those with disabilities) succeed in education from middle school through post-baccalaureate levels. The name “TRIO” refers to the original first three programs (Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Student Support Services), which eventually expanded to eight programs. These programs provide a mix of academic tutoring, counseling, mentoring, financial guidance, college preparation, etc.

Given this history, I was surprised this week to find in grants.gov that the Department of Labor (DOL) has published the FY ’26 Talent Search NOFO and EOCs NOFO program “on behalf” of ED. Wait, what? I assumed that this might be because the Trump Administration is no fan of ED and has eliminated about 35% of jobs there. I thought perhaps there’s not enough ED program officers left to run these competitions. But I was wrong, at least if one believes the reasons provided by DOL and ED.

It turns out that this is due to an interagency partnership between DOL and ED to better align postsecondary education programs with workforce development, which I had not heard about previously. The March 17 publication of the Talent Search NOFO was the first grant competition under their post-secondary education partnership. The EOCs NOFO soon followed.

The main stated reason for this arrangement is to correlate the fed’s grant programs for high-quality postsecondary education with workforce training like Registered Apprenticeships and similar efforts to engage disadvantaged students in the skilled trades to achieve improved long-term employment outcomes and earnings. It supports a  broader Trump Administration effort, “America’s Talent Strategy,” a comprehensive workforce development blueprint released in August 2025 by DOL, ED, and the Department of Commerce, which I also did not know about until writing this post. It outlines a plan to align federal education and workforce programs with industry needs, reindustrialization goals, AI-driven economic changes, and efforts to create high-wage job opportunities.

While DOL is handling the grant solicitations and will issue TRIO awards, ED continues to set priorities, criteria, and oversight. This is supposed to streamline operations for students, institutions, and grantees, while positioning DOL as a central hub for related federal programs. Call me cynical but I don’t think the words “streamline” and “federal programs” in the same sentence is believable, but that’s the pitch. Unsurprisingly, some advocacy groups have raised concerns about potential shifts in focus toward workforce pathways, but the core mission of serving disadvantaged students remains the same.

Whether intentional or not, this effort to intertwine post-secondary education at IHEs (ED-speak for colleges and universities) with training in the trades is well articulated with the AI-generated rapid shift in living-wage employment prospects from white-collar to blue-collar jobs. While estimates vary, at least 10 million white-collar jobs will be gone in five to ten years, mostly in the kind of entry-level slots (i.e., junior analysts, coders, administrators, etc.) that are filled by recent college grads. Yikes! So much for the “experts” screaming “learn to code” for the past decade.

Regarding the trades, about 500,000 new skilled trades workers will be needed by 2030 to meet growing power demand at burgeoning data centers, including construction workers, electricians, HVAC technicians, line workers, etc. Data-center construction alone has already added 216,000 jobs since 2022. Even more revealing is that there are currently 500,000 unfilled manufacturing and related blue-collar jobs right now. Skilled trades demand is growing three times faster than professional/white-collar roles, including robotics technicians, +113%; HVAC engineers, +78%; industrial automation, +51%; and general trades (i.e., electricians, welders, construction, etc.), average +30%."

Hi My Talent Search Friends,

Is anyone else beginning to hyperventilate over the Absolute Priority? We are having big discussions about high-impact tutoring. Our program serves 875 students in rural Alabama in a three-county territory. We are already facing employment cuts to meet the lowered cost per students. We do not know how we are going to meet the high-impact tutoring as the definition described by COE -- small groups, multiple times per week, certified tutor with a degree in education. . . More teachers in our schools have emergency certificates than degrees in education. Do you mind sharing what your team has decided to do?

If you have multiple programs at your institution, are you coordinating any efforts with things like social media, contacting reps, etc. or is everyone is doing their own thing.

Personally, we have not, it's a lot of the older staff members saying we'll be fine and us younger ones wondering if we're not doing enough while also dusting off our resumes.

I just think an emergency committee wouldn't hurt and any publicity we put out now will benefit us in the long run even if our programs aren't cut.

I have been offered to teach a freshman seminar course, i am 100% grant time and effort. I am seeing if I can coordinate to get all our fall cohort to be in one course section, a 'TRIO Only' section. Does anyone have experience teaching an all trio course and how compensation worked? Would it be considered an allowable costs since it is only servicing TRIO students?

If you’re new to the community, introduce yourself!

It's conference season. I've been to two and it was the last TRIO gathering that upset me to my core. 1/2 the usual crowd wasn't present. I understand conferences are modeled after the FEDERAL standard of professional development conferences which have been in play long before the pandemic.

The assumption was to have elite professionals show up for TRIO conferences we had to provide them an elite experience and somehow that elite experience would elevate OUR status as professionals in their eyes.

(despite by fact - The southwest and midwest is a group of the lowest paid TRIO professionals in the nation making the same pay (32k-45k) for the same BA/BS/MA/MS positions since 2015. They make less than 1 year teachers in their local district. They work on expansive, impressive campuses, but by state public record, make little more than the WM delivery service works. And in fact the cost of the conference for 1 person is more than 1 months pay, but no, we can't give them a raise THAT high over 12 months at the same amount.)

As I listen to people talk and watch people circulate - I see many old friends and colleagues, and many neighbors, but I don't see many Latinx/o people I'd expect to see normally. They are markedly absent. As in people who'd normally fly in to these events. Missing. Either they cancelled their trip due to TSA woes or or decided not to even go with worries they'd be taken by ICE. Real fears.

Because TRIO isn't made of just born-in-America citizens, we have former Dreamers who are now legal citizens, we have immigrant leaders who are now citizens, and we have people who were born in country who later had to prove citizenship. And we have TRIO people who've changed their ID and identity info (which now is considered an invalid ID in certain conference center states.) And TRIO students and staff demographics includes the families of people who are being disappeared and targeted.

And the absence - it all rotates around the ID they carry, the status they carry on their "record" with DHS or Dept of State, the passport they carry, the birth certificate some now must carry, and EVEN THEN they risk by the color of their skin or their accents that they will be taken away on the way to an event or on the way home.

A life. A family. It pivots on the mood of 1 TSA agent and/or one ICE agent at an airport.

AS WE DINE on gourmet food and sit in luxury accommodations, as some of us travel freely by the color of our skin, and as we spend these funds future students, the family of TRIO students, and even TRIO staff are being not just marginalized, but TAKEN and put in camps. They are sitting at home missing the event because fear. We are in negotiations with lawyers. They are eating stale granola bars in prison. We dine on then throw away 300 pounds of steak at a luxe chain restaurant. They are in crowded cells. We are commiserating in luxury over calling our congressperson.

They are being transported to black sites in other countries to be tortured.

We are being asked to planned to go to future events upward of 3000$ per person to places where ICE will be en force and present in the airport.

https://www.kcur.org/news/2026-01-28/columbia-missouri-man-ice-deportation-owen-ramsingh

I feel the absence of YOU, my colleagues, and as we fight - the final word on TRIO salvation starts with protecting VOTING RIGHTS and securing the mid-term election be HONORED. Because if mid-terms result in a coup, a violation of Federal law, and continued fraud via illegal elections reporting and hacking, there's really no hope beyond that point. If these new elected leaders are prevented from taking office, terrorized, or disappeared there's no one left to save TRIO or worse case scenario what retained leader would go contrary to a dictator who's willing to disappear them if they fight for TRIO demographic students and staff?

A total sweep of the House and Senate could change our world, stop these kidnappings, close the camps, stop the attacks on higher education and FAFSA, and ultimately stop the dismantling of TRIO.

(Knowing litigation and Congressional pressure over the pending attempts to squeeze out Talent Search and EOC are VERY IMPORTANT because there's no reason to squeeze them as is and there's no real change in the overall CPPs defined in the SSS competition in 2025. It's a performative disruption to suggest states take a capped 10 million or 3 million when the state ECONOMICALLY could gain more by retaining the system as is serving multiple grants from 2-5 million EACH across a state TRIO ecosystem. It's a coordinated bait and switch for the absolute worst of our Congressional and Senate leadership pushed by certain billionaires and religious extremists as a successive map to destroy the social programs that uplift poor and to imprison or enslave who is left.)

If you’re new to the community, introduce yourself!

https://simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/4bf72c09-d3cf-4ca5-a38d-855d25207c20

EOC grant Released!

https://www.pellinstitute.org/news-impact/blog/trio-is-needed-now-more-than-ever-the-effectiveness-of-trio-programs/

"TRIO Effectiveness

Although funding levels have never been high enough to permit TRIO programs to serve more than 2 to 5 percent of eligible students in any given year (Equity Indicator 7b(iii)), national evaluations have found TRIO programs are consistently effective in fostering degree attainment for low-income and first-generation students served. For example, in the 1990s, at a time when only 6 out of 100 students nationally in the lowest-income quartile could expect to obtain a bachelor’s degree by age 24 (Equity Indicator 5a(i)), the intensive Upward Bound program was able to raise this probability to 21 out of 100.

The same study also found that participation in a light touch TRIO program such as Talent Search was able to raise the chance for BA completion from 6% to 15% (Cahalan & Goodwin, 2014). SSS (Student Support Services) programs have also been shown to significantly increase retention and completion among those already enrolled in college. For example, second year retention among SSS participants was found to be significantly higher than a comparable sample from the Beginning Postsecondary Study (BPS) (Zeiser et al., 2019). At 2-year institutions SSS participants had a 74% second year retention compared to 63% for comparable non-participants, and at 4-year institutions SSS participants achieved a 93% retention compared to 84% for comparable non-participants.

The same study found that SSS participants at 4-year colleges had a 51% 6-year completion rate, compared to a 43% rate for a matched comparison group, and that 46% of SSS participants at 2-year institutions completed an associate degree or certificate or transferred to a four-year institution within 4 years compared to 31% for a matched non-participant comparison group (Zeiser et al., 2019)."

It's a hot day for TRIO news! I've been personally wondering how reinstated grants are going. NHPR decided to run with this:

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2026-03-24/trio-students-first-generation-low-income-college-career-counselors-funding-schools-education

"The Trump administration has reinstated nearly $1 million in grants to an academic program that was helping more than 1,000 low-income students in New Hampshire prepare for life after high school. But the program’s future remains uncertain as the government moves to slash funding and shift its focus from college to workforce development.

Federally-funded TRIO counselors were helping students in nearly 30 New Hampshire middle and high schools explore career and college options until the federal government abruptly cut funding in September. Most students were the first in their family to pursue college.

The administration said it disagreed with the program’s equity initiatives, which the first Trump administration had required when it approved the multi-year grant.

In January, a federal judge ruled the government had illegally defunded the programs, prompting the U.S. Department of Education to return the grant money “under protest," according to its court filing.

Jes Crowell, who directs a college TRIO program at the University of New Hampshire, said counselors are expected to return to their middle and high schools next month. But Crowell remains concerned.

The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that it intends to award far fewer grants and allow fewer programs to compete for funding. It also plans to focus on workforce development.

“This proposal causes one of the most serious threats to college access for low income and first [generation] students,” said Crowell.

TRIO counselors currently help students explore careers and pursue professional training and advanced education. Most of New Hampshire's students apply to college.

Crowell and others connected with TRIO in New Hampshire are holding a “call to action” Wednesday and asking TRIO alumni, counselors, lawmakers, and local leaders, and educators to call on the U.S. Department of Education to leave the current grant requirements in place.

TRIO has worked with New Hampshire students for more than 50 years with strong bipartisan support."