Recently, $1 million in delayed funds to higher education institutions based in New Hampshire were set to be restored. Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander pushed for the funds to be released, as the Trump administration had delayed the release of the federal education dollars. According to My Keene Now, “While the release of the $1 million allocation marks a step forward, state officials note that additional resources—especially those cut from other programs such as GEAR Up—remain tied up in appeals.”
TRIO programs are nationally recognized, federally funded grants that exist to support low-income, underrepresented or first-generation students. As of late, many of these grants across New Hampshire and Vermont have either had their funding withheld or cancelled after receiving non-continuation letters sent out by the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Adam Keese, director of Keene State’s TRIO programs and a first-generation college student himself, said, “What they’re [the Trump administration] doing is arbitrarily cancelling these grants. They’ll use AI software to look for a particular phrase or language.”
Keese noted that the University of New Hampshire’s Educational Talent Search program was among those impacted, and added that TRIO was codified into law under Title IV.
Keene State has four TRIO grants that provide academic and career support: Upward Bound, Upward Bound: Math and Science, Student Support Services and Student Support Services – STEM. The programs serve multiple geographic regions, from Keene High in New Hampshire to Brattleboro and Springfield, Vt.
Upward Bound: Math and Science is STEM-focused and serves communities like Hillsborough, Conant and Peterborough. Staff in those departments meet with students throughout the academic year to assist with academic preparedness as well as college and career readiness.
Keese said, “The idea is we’re helping students have access to opportunities they might not get otherwise. We’re helping them broaden beyond what’s just in their small towns. We help them connect with post-secondary education and identify other causes, like rural isolation, that can be difficult for schools to deal with.”
Keese also described how TRIO staff interact with students.
“When we meet with students, we talk about their upcoming course schedules, but also about how they’re doing,” Keese said. “We try to help them align their social and academic experiences with what they may want for a career path.”
He explained that, although Keene State hasn’t received any non-continuation letters, many throughout New Hampshire and Vermont have had their programs cut. He said, “Our funding is forward-funded, so we’re already funded for this fiscal year of 2025-2026.”
Cancelled TRIO grants include the McNair Scholars programs, as well as Vermont’s Educational Opportunity Centers, which focused on non-traditional students.
“If you combine all of the cuts between TRIO and GEAR UP [Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs], that’s like over 5,000 students that just lost services, over thirty people who just lost their jobs,” he said. “It’s pretty devastating, and these programs are in a lot of school districts that are in really bad shape to begin with.”
“Specifically, the application for the Talent Search grant stated that it will ‘coordinate with target school departments, faculty and community organizations for assistance and proactively identifying and recruiting students of color and non-caucasians.’ Literally just that sentence caused them to be cancelled and lose all of their funding and all of their over 1,000 students to lose all of those services,” he said, adding that the letter was appealed unsuccessfully.
Keese made it clear that TRIO is suffering nationwide, with cuts happening regardless of a given state’s partisan leaning or the number of programs it hosts.
Along with overseeing the Upward Bound and TRIO programs, Keese is the president of the New Hampshire Educational Opportunity Association (NHEOA), a nonprofit dedicated to fostering community among those serving underserved populations of students.
Keese said New Hampshire’s congressional delegation has all been supportive of restoring and maintaining TRIO’s funding levels.
The delegation wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education, advocating for the release of funds for TRIO. Additionally, N.H. Gov. Kelly Ayotte directly wrote to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon demanding that the programs be reinstated.
Keese added that support for the TRIO programs has been bipartisan in the past, noting that the programs even saw more support during certain Republican presidential administrations.
TRIO has been, in Keese’s words, “fighting different fights with the federal government” since May. Some of their Upward Bound programs began on June 1 and didn’t receive funding until May 31.
“Our funding here [at Keene State] is good. Part of the challenge is there’s just so many fights. We talked about how the Trump administration wants to zero out TRIO and GEAR UP in the next fiscal year funding cycle.”
He continued, “Despite us showing that we’re making progress, showing that we are demonstrating success with helping first-generation students connect with post-secondary education, they’re focusing on some of the language in these grants that doesn’t actually even impact our operating plan.”
Keese also spoke on how a potential TRIO program loss would impact KSC’s advising.
“Our advisors are really integrated with campus. Over half our advisors are TRIO, so if we lost our programs because they were cancelled, there’d basically be three advisors left in the entire campus. The loss of our programs would be immeasurable.”
Mark Schmidl-Gagne and Beth Zinn were contacted but unable to comment.
Samantha Menard can be contacted at
