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The Council for Opportunity in Education Condemns Latest TRIO Grant Proposal, Calls It “Direct Assault on College Access”

March 24, 2026 — by Terrance L. Hamm

COE is urging Congress to immediately intervene and force the Department of Education to rescind its FY 2026 Talent Search proposal, warning that it would abandon the federal commitment to college access for low-income and first-generation students.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) today issued a forceful condemnation of the U.S. Department of Education’s Fiscal Year 2026 Talent Search Request for Proposals (RFP), warning that the proposal represents one of the most serious threats to college access for low-income, first-generation youth.

The RFP signals a dramatic and deeply troubling shift away from TRIO’s core mission of helping low-income and first-generation students prepare for and succeed in higher education. Instead, it introduces structural changes that destabilize existing programs, reduce access, and divert attention from college readiness.

“This is a direct assault on educational opportunity,” said COE President Kimberly Jones. “The Department is essentially proposing to obliterate a program that has opened doors of higher education for generations of students who have gone on to serve as leaders in business, academia, public service, and a number of other fields. At a moment when access should be expanding, this proposal would slam those doors shut.”

Talent Search currently operates 517 programs nationwide serving about 300,000 low-income and first-generation middle and high school students each year, a capacity that the FY 2026 proposal would slash by more than half.

“This proposal is misguided and a wholesale redefinition of Talent Search that abandons the low-income, first-generation middle and high school students it was created to serve,” said COE President Kimberly Jones.

COE believes the Department is signaling that instead of preparing the nation’s youngest students for college, programs should steer them toward workforce systems tied to industry demand.

“This RFP turns the mission of TRIO on its head. Talent Search was never intended to be a workforce sorting mechanism,” Jones said. “It was created to expand opportunity and ensure that students, regardless of background, have a real chance at higher education. By shifting to an emphasis on ‘workforce pipelines’ for teenagers, this redirects ambitions and risks closing the college pathway for the very students who could benefit the most.”

COE’s review of the RFP identified several critical concerns:

It would eliminate up to two-thirds of existing Talent Search projects, removing services from communities nationwide;
It enables large, concentrated awards to a limited number of state entities, potentially leaving entire states without TRIO services;
It provides no assurance that current grantees can maintain funding levels, creating instability for programs and students; and
It shifts the program’s focus toward employment training, undermining TRIO’s long-standing role in promoting college access.

COE President Emeritus Arnold Mitchem, the founder of the TRIO movement, warned that the proposal contradicts the program’s very purpose.

“TRIO was created to ensure that talent, not circumstance, determines who has access to higher education,” said Mitchem. “This proposal abandons that principle. It takes a program designed to expand opportunity and repurposes it in a way that risks excluding the very students it was meant to serve. That is not progress. That is regression!”

COE emphasized that the implications extend far beyond Talent Search alone, raising concerns about the Administration’s broader direction for federal education policy.

“This is a signal, not an isolated policy shift,” said COE Vice President for Public Policy Diane Shust. “The structure of this RFP reveals an approach that concentrates resources, reduces access, and weakens the federal commitment to college opportunity. If allowed to stand, it will fundamentally alter how, and whether, students in many communities can access TRIO services.”

COE is calling on the U.S. Department of Education to immediately rescind the FY 2026 Talent Search RFP and reissue a proposal that preserves the integrity and intent of the program. The organization is also urging Congress to intervene and ensure that students do not experience any disruption in services as current Talent Search grants expire on August 31

“The stakes here are immediate and real,” Jones added. “Students are counting on TRIO right now. Any lapse in services or loss of programs will have lasting consequences, not just for individuals, but for communities and the nation’s economic future.”

“For more than sixty years, TRIO has delivered measurable results, helping students persist, graduate, and achieve economic mobility,” Mitchem said. “We should be strengthening that work, not undermining it.”

“Congress must act,” Shust concluded. “Protecting TRIO is not optional—it is essential to maintaining a national commitment to educational opportunity.”

To learn more about the Federal TRIO Programs, visit coenet.org.

Media Inquiries

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview, please contact Terrance L. Hamm, vice president for communications and marketing at COE via email at [email protected] or call (202) 347-7430.

The Council for Opportunity in Education Condemns Latest TRIO Grant Proposal, Calls It “Direct Assault on College Access”

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