09/17/2026
Attention Friends of TRIO! We need your help before September 23, 2026!
Earlier today we received a letter from Kimberly Jones, President of the Council for Opportunity, regarding the latest threat TRIO programs are facing at the federal level. In it, she writes:
"Dear Colleagues,
Following up on the White House's attempt through proposed OMB regulations to expand control over grants and how programs like TRIO use their funding, the administration is now going agency by agency to accomplish those same goals.
To that effort, the Department of Education has proposed a sweeping rewrite of its general grantmaking rules (also known as EDGAR). Key provisions would let the Department terminate education grants 'for convenience,' with no cause required; remove the current guarantee that continuation funding follows a multi-year award; and add vague new compliance conditions, among other issues.
Together, these changes would give the Department broad, largely unchecked authority to disrupt or end TRIO grants at any point in the funding cycle, with less ability for COE and the TRIO community to fight these decisions.
The TRIO community has already felt the impact of abrupt grant terminations with little to no explanation, as well as other grant disruptions, due to the Department's attempt to change the nature and structure of TRIO programs. We cannot afford for this proposed rule to go through and for their power grab to succeed.
We need TRIO voices across our community to speak up on the record and call for the withdrawal of this rule before the public comment period closes on September 23, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET."
Ms. Jones goes on to note that COE has "drafted three ready-to-use comment templates to help you submit before the deadline. These templates include step-by-step instructions for submitting and are tailored to your background."
Please go to the Comments and choose the template which best fits your relationship to TRIO, personalize it with your own details or story, and submit it before September 23!
As Ms. Jones puts it: "For public comments to make a difference, we need a large number of submissions, which the Department will have to review and respond to before moving forward with finalizing the proposed rule. It also helps us with federal advocacy to show how our community spoke up and out against it!"
Thank you for supporting TRIO student success at Minot State University!
