News & Impact/Blog/

Why Trump’s Budget Proposal Betrays a Generation of Low-Income College Students

June 11, 2025 — by Alejandra Campoverdi and Aaron Brown, Ph.D.

Despite decades of proven success in expanding college access and economic mobility for low-income and first-generation students, the federal TRIO programs now face elimination in the President’s budget—prompting over 10,000 alumni to urge Congress to protect this vital engine of opportunity.

America loves to celebrate its “firsts”— first generation college students, first generation professionals, the first person in a family to break a cycle of poverty. These milestones, while personal and familial, are also reflective of our well-being as a nation. Social and economic mobility remain a reliable measure of a country’s prosperity and promise of opportunity for all. Yet, in the President’s budget proposal sent to Congress earlier this month, one of our nation’s most demonstrated mechanisms for upward mobility is at risk of being dismantled.

Last week, Congress received a letter signed by over 10,000 alumni of the Federal TRIO programs—educators, scientists, nurses, business leaders—urging lawmakers to protect the programs that made their academic and professional dreams a reality. These individuals are living proof that investing in potential unlocks real, measurable returns for our country. 

Since 1964, the TRIO programs have helped more than six million low-income, first-generation, and disabled students earn college degrees. Today, nearly one million students benefit from TRIO services each year. A U.S. Department of Education study found that TRIO Student Support Services participants are 47% more likely to earn a two-year degree and 18% more likely to complete a four-year degree than their comparable peers. TRIO Upward Bound students from the lowest income quartile are twice as likely to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24.

Federal initiatives such as TRIO increase college access, boost graduation rates, and improve economic outcomes. According to the Pell Institute, students from the highest income quartile are still nearly five times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24 than students from the lowest quartile.

Targeting TRIO for complete elimination in its most recent budget proposal to Congress, the Trump Administration wrongly claimed that “access to college is no longer the barrier it once was for low-income students.” Yet admissions processes remain complex, college costs continue to rise, and rural and under-resourced schools often lack the counselors and mentors students need to navigate the path to and through college.

TRIO isn’t a partisan program—it’s an American one—and its value has long been recognized through bipartisan support. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) praises TRIO’s role in building a strong workforce and healthy economy. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) champions TRIO’s impact on rural communities. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) supports TRIO for helping students prepare for careers through education-to-employment pathways. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), both TRIO alumni, credit the program with helping them rise from poverty to public service.

TRIO participants also reflect the full diversity of America: 34% White, 32% Black, 23% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 3% Native American, and 3% identifying as other. These programs operate in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Pacific Islands, serving veterans, adult learners, and students with disabilities alongside traditional undergraduates. 

We ourselves come to this work from different perspectives, yet united in our firsthand understanding of the continuing need for the TRIO programs. One of us is a Latina Pell Grant recipient who has spent the past two years visiting more than 80 colleges and universities across the country, speaking directly with first-generation and low-income students. The other helps lead the nation’s largest TRIO advocacy organization and began his journey as a TRIO student in a rural Washington town.

If TRIO is eliminated, we lose a national infrastructure of academic support and college access that has been quietly yet consistently transforming lives for nearly six decades. The impact would be immediate and devasting to a generation of promising young people. We cannot celebrate our trailblazers while tearing up the roads they’ve forged. Congress must act to protect TRIO and reaffirm America’s promise: that where you begin in life should not determine where you end up.

Alejandra Campoverdi is the bestselling author of First Gen and the founder of the First Gen Fund, a nonprofit that provides hardship grants to first-generation college students. She served as White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media in the Obama Administration.

Dr. Aaron Brown is the executive vice president of the Council for Opportunity in Education and a TRIO Student Support Services alumnus. He has 20 years of higher education experience serving in a variety of roles, including assistant vice provost, associate dean for student development and achievement, first-year experience instructor, and elected member of the faculty senate.

More News & Impact