Biden Admin seeks to extend federal college-prep programs to illegal immigrants
TRIO programs receive roughly $1.2 billion in federal funding annually.
The Biden Administration is pushing to extend certain federally funded college-preparatory programs to illegal immigrants.
The Federal TRIO programs are a set of eight outreach and student services initiatives “designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.” Institutions and organizations receive grant money to carry out these programs that are meant to prepare “low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities” for college.
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TRIO programs are currently restricted to citizens of the U.S. and its territories, permanent residents, or those seeking permanent residency or citizenship. But a newly proposed change would allow illegal immigrants to participate, so long as they are either enrolled or seeking to enroll in a U.S. high school.
TRIO programs receive roughly $1.2 billion in federal funding annually. Illegal immigrant students have been barred from receiving TRIO benefits, as well as federal financial aid for college, since 1986.
But the draft proposal released Tuesday asserts that “limitations in the current regulation do not allow for TRIO programs to reach all students in the geographic areas for whom the programs were meant to serve.”
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As such, the Department of Education “proposes to broaden participation by adding language that expands eligibility for all students who have enrolled in or who seek to enroll in a high school in the United States, territories, or Freely Associated States, which are the geographic areas served by the TRIO programs.”
“This proposal will allow the specified TRIO programs to serve additional students who are already receiving public educational services from middle and high schools, without requiring additional determinations to enable students to participate.”
Three TRIO programs are listed for proposed modifications are Educational Opportunity Centers, which assist students with college applications and obtaining financial aid, as well as Talent Search and Upward Bound, programs that support and encourage the completion of high school through services like career assessments, counseling, and tutoring.