Biden Administration's Rule Change Threatens Funding for the Most Disadvantaged Students
Growing up in a Latino household meant that Saturdays were reserved for household chores. Every week, my mother would wake me up from my slumber at the crack of dawn with the intoxicating scent of Fabuloso Multi-Purpose Cleaner and the staticky sounds of Paraguayan music blasting from a local AM radio station. In response to my incessant begging to let me sleep in, with the intention of doing my chores later, my mother would regularly declare, “El camino al fracaso está pavimentado con buenas intenciones,” which translates to “the road to failure is paved with good intentions.” In saying this, my mother was not only telling me that my negotiation tactics were futile, but that good intentions can have negative consequences for those we seek to help.
The Biden administration could use a lesson from my mother. Despite its stated goal of expanding access to higher education for “students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds,” the administration’s current efforts to modify eligibility criteria to include undocumented immigrants in federal college-preparation programs will likely hurt the very people these initiatives are intended to help.
In the spring of 2009, I was accepted to the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) by way of a conditional admit program known as the Academic Achievement Program. Admissions counselors referred students to this program if something in their undergraduate application indicated that, with supplemental and individualized support, they would prove successful in their academic pursuits at the university. Maryland’s Academic Achievement Program is largely funded by federal grants managed by the Department of Education’s TRIO programs – a collective of federally sponsored programs designed to identify and prepare students with disabilities, low-income students, and students who are the first in their families to attend college, for postsecondary education.
The first TRIO program, Upward Bound, was established as part of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Today, a total of eight separate programs fall under the federal TRIO umbrella, including Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Education Opportunity Centers. The Department of Education requires TRIO grant recipients to provide a combination of services, such as college application and financial aid guidance; personal, financial, and career counseling; workplace and college visits; tutoring in mathematics, reading, writing, and study skills; and assistance with college enrollment. To qualify for TRIO funding, Congress requires that at least two-thirds of the students in a program must have a disability, identify as a first-generation college student, and/or be defined as low-income. More specifically, TRIO programs are intended to serve the neediest of individuals, those whose families’ taxable incomes for the preceding year did not exceed 150% of the poverty level. To put it simply, TRIO funds are reserved for those who face the greatest barriers to obtaining an education and positive socioeconomic mobility.
That is all about to change. In an act of political opportunism, the Department of Education recently announced a rule change that would expand participant eligibility by removing citizenship and residency requirements to allow undocumented students to participate in three TRIO programs that primarily support high school students.
While the intention of extending TRIO services to undocumented students may seem commendable to some, the potential consequences are alarming. TRIO programs currently serve more than 880,000 students each year and cost taxpayers roughly $1.2 billion last year alone. This proposed change would increase demand for TRIO services while decreasing the availability of resources for the students currently eligible. Oddly, while seeking to increase participation in the program, the Department of Education’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025 remains relatively flat. If approved, TRIO programs will be forced to do more with less, ultimately hurting those American students who already face the greatest hurdles to obtaining higher education.
The Department of Education argues that its proposal is needed to support all underprivileged communities’ access to postsecondary education. Yet, it’s worth noting that undocumented students cannot, by federal law, receive any federal student aid. Adopting the proposed changes would mean that TRIO funds would be diverted toward preparing an additional group of high school students for an opportunity that undocumented students are legally and financially prevented from enjoying.
Considering that only 1.9% of all college and university students in 2021 were undocumented, and only a small fraction of those students were DACA-eligible, the Department’s efforts to expand TRIO programs to undocumented high school students is not only politically self-indulgent, it’s cruel. Furthermore, most undocumented college students come from California, Texas, Florida, and New York, where current state taxes facilitate greater access to a college education than the proposed TRIO regulations could provide. If the Biden Administration was truly interested in serving all students from disadvantaged backgrounds, it would make more sense to allow those states to continue funding their own TRIO-style programs without federal intervention.
As someone who navigated the challenges of being a low-income, first-generation college student and whose own educational journey was supported by a TRIO program, the potential impact of the Administration’s initiative hits far too close to home. Just as good intentions without prudent action pave the path to failure, the Biden administration’s political pandering jeopardizes the viability of future TRIO programming for all students whose futures could benefit from them the most.
