Although President Donald Trump has partially restored some of the $30 million he eliminated from New Hampshire tutoring, academic support, career guidance and college scholarships, The Equinox remains deeply concerned about this administration’s culture of careless cuts.
Trump’s U.S. Department of Education doled out the cuts as part of the administration’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, according to reporting from New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR).
The cuts primarily impact high school students who participate in TRIO and Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), both federally funded programs designed to ensure high schoolers who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, low-income families or first-generation students can get the tools they need to attend college.
While the TRIO program is codified into law under Title IV, some of the grants operating within the program, such as the University of New Hampshire’s Educational Talent Search program, Vermont’s Educational Opportunity Centers and the McNair Scholars Program, were among those cancelled.
We find it deeply shameful that the Trump administration has targeted such important programs across N.H., with an estimated 5,200 students impacted by the cuts, according to NHPR.
So much harm has already been done in the name of “cutting down on government waste” and ending “DEI programs” during the past nine months of Trump’s term that it can be hard to even keep up with what has been put on the chopping block.
Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that the anti-DEI crusade has led to the elimination of grants and funding toward programs designed to help financially disadvantaged students.
The narrative surrounding the meaning and practice of DEI has shifted to a point in our culture where those who oppose it often view it as solely focusing on race or ethnicity, when that could not be further from the case.
Programs like TRIO and GEAR UP can indeed be considered DEI under the definition of the term, as they both seek to serve underprivileged populations of students.
TRIO and GEAR UP do promote equity; they give high schoolers who are the first in their families looking to attend college a chance to play on a relatively level playing field with those who come from a more financially advantageous background.
Students whose parents and grandparents did not attend college before them start off at a disadvantage. Their families can only do so much to help prepare them for something that they themselves have no experience with on how to navigate.
The complicated and hard-to-understand financial aid process, college applications and the brand new world of academia can be daunting to those who do not immediately have a family member to confide in who has been through those processes themselves and came out of it at the other end.
These programs seek to bridge the gap as best as possible for those who want to be the first in their family to attend college and, hopefully, gain a level of social mobility from college to break through generational poverty.
It is disappointing that the language of DEI has become such a “bad word” in the U.S.’s political discourse.
At its root, the terms that comprise DEI include so much more than meets the eye, including accessibility laws and programs to support disabled individuals, as well as programs like TRIO and GEAR UP, specifically focused on low-income students.
One would think that the Trump administration, on paper, would love programs like these, which inadvertently promote the ideal of meritocracy, as in the idea that those under a capitalist system can achieve social mobility so long as they have the talent and knowledge to succeed, regardless of class.
But, sadly, Trump’s administration seems content with flagging any federally-funded program that even uses the word “underrepresented” or dares to talk about how their program could benefit people of color.
If TRIO and GEAR UP are considered DEI and wasteful spending, we are in for an extremely challenging four years under Trump.
These programs are among the most essential to KSC, as there is a clear and direct cause-and-effect and demonstrative proof that these programs work for students. People who work for TRIO and GEAR UP interface with disadvantaged students on a daily basis and focus all of their efforts on helping them get to where they need to be to succeed in post-secondary education, and there’s no good reason to cut or scale back any of their work.
These programs must be restored to full funding levels, and in an ideal world, be given even more funding and resources than they were previously.
We believe in the purpose and promise of higher education in advancing social mobility, and commend all who work in these programs to help high schoolers attend college.
At a time when it feels like just existing as a college student is cause for scrutiny and ridicule from Trump and his ilk, we have to do as much as we can to ensure high schoolers still have the ability to attend college and be encouraged to do so if it fits within their career goals.
We need to return to a place in the U.S. where the value of higher education is recognized and appreciated, and we cannot elect leaders who seek to do just the opposite.
