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January 22, 2024

Federal TRIO Programs Subcommittee

Program Integrity and Institutional Quality Committee

United States Department of Education

RE: Expanding TRIO Programs Eligibility to Undocumented Students

Dear members of the Commitee and fellow members of the Subcommitee:

As I stated at the subcommitee mee�ng on January 12, 2024, I strongly support the Department’s 

proposal to expand eligibility for TRIO college access and success programs. I would like to address 

concerns about the proposal raised by my fellow subcommitee members and offer technical sugges�ons 

for making the rule even more inclusive.

Washington state’s experience is important to understand in the context of the concerns raised over the 

poli�cal climate in the country surrounding immigra�on and individual status issues. I’m not going to 

discuss the debates we hear on various media outlets or the broad reaching poli�cal debate at the 

na�onal, state, or local level. That conversa�on is not relevant and did not seem to be the focus of the 

comments made by subcommitee members who opposed the rule change.

What was raised was the fear of backlash against TRIO programs that might endanger their ability to 

serve currently eligible students. There is relevant experience that indicates that these broader and 

conten�ous policy discussions have not affected the ability of community-based programs to serve the 

needs of all students in an inclusive way. 

The reality on the ground across the country is far more nuanced and complex than what one sees in the 

na�onal media. Some might lump en�re states in one camp or the other on this issue. That does not 

reflect the differences that exist at the community level. In some states that might be perceived as 

hos�le poli�cal environments on this issue there are many communi�es that do not adhere to that 

perspec�ve. And the opposite is true. In Washington, there is no monolithic perspec�ve, and it certainly 

varies by geography.

Washington has a long history in educa�ng undocumented students in our colleges and universi�es –

and suppor�ng them with our state financial aid programs that WSAC administers. In SY 2023, we 

provided WA College Grants to almost 2,800 undocumented students. 

WSAC manages our state GEAR UP program which provides student supports like those provided by TRIO 

programs. We serve undocumented students in our GEAR UP programs. In SY 2022, we served a total of 

5,593 students in 34 schools in 26 high-poverty districts. Many of these school districts are in rural areas

where large scale agriculture dominates the labor market. This has drawn large numbers of 

undocumented residents to these communi�es and children to their schools. 
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We have not experienced a backlash at the community level to the inclusion of all students in these 

programs. And we have not seen any atempts at the state level to roll back the policies that support 

serving all students. This is the dynamic that will determine if there is any backlash that is detrimental to 

TRIO or other programs that help students succeed in the communi�es where they live. Vitriolic debates 

over other aspects of immigra�on policy will not cross over to jeopardize these programs. We should 

not allow these fears to get in the way of serving students.

Washingtonians know that to build strong local economies across the state, we must provide onramps to 

prosperity for all our residents. That’s why we have taken an inclusive approach to serve students in 

GEAR UP, WA College Grant and on the campuses of our colleges and universi�es. We are proud of what 

we’re doing in Washington, and I know we’re not alone among states. 

I encourage the Department to to ensure all students have reliable paths to prosperity, including the 

comple�on of high-quality secondary and postsecondary educa�on. Expanding eligibility for federal TRIO 

programs, which serve over 800,000 students across the country, is one tool for doing just that. 

In 2021, a broad coali�on of educa�on and immigra�on stakeholders wrote to Secretary Cardona, urging 

the Department to “eliminate the regulatory requirement that par�cipants in the Federal TRIO Programs 

be U.S. ci�zens or permanent residents to access TRIO’s life-changing college access and comple�on 

services.” A copy of that leter is atached for your reference. 

I am pleased the Department took this encouragement seriously, and that the Department proposed to 

act on it in the 2024 nego�ated rulemaking process. I was encouraged enough that I wanted to serve on 

the subcommitee to support and, if possible, strengthen the proposal.

To that end, I am also ataching a new leter with many educa�on and immigra�on stakeholders urging 

the Department to “support the expansion of eligibility for Federal TRIO programs to include 

undocumented students.” 

Signatories include AASCU, Atlanta Public Schools, The Educa�on Trust, FWD.us, HACU, NACAC, NEA, 

Na�onal Immigra�on Law Center, Presidents Alliance on Higher Educa�on and Immigra�on, University of 

California System, UC Student Associa�on, United We Dream, Voto La�no, and dozens more.

In addi�on to joining these organiza�ons’ call for the Department to move forward with its proposal to 

expand TRIO program eligibility, I’ll address some substan�ve issues from the subcommitee mee�ng. 

Some nego�ators argued against the proposal on the grounds that permi�ng undocumented students 

to receive Upward Bound (one of the TRIO programs) services, but not s�pends (the Department 

reasons that providing s�pends would violate PRWORA), is an “equity issue.” First, the s�pends issue is 

not relevant for all programs so should not be a deal-breaker for the overall proposal. Second, one of the 

nego�ators raised a prac�cal solu�on: grantees could use non-federal funds to provide s�pends to 

students prohibited from receiving federal s�pends. Someone could do the math to es�mate how many 

undocumented students Upward Bound programs would serve and what that would require in nonfederal s�pends. I’m op�mis�c that private philanthropy would step up to fill the gap. 

Another cri�que nego�ators offered was that TRIO grantees serving undocumented students would 

perform worse on measures such as college enrollment of program par�cipants because of admissions 
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and financial aid barriers undocumented students face in some states, and this would hurt grantees’ 

chances of receiving future grants, which are, in part, graded on measures of “prior experience.” While 

this wouldn’t be an issue in Washington or many other states where undocumented students can enroll 

in and receive financial aid to atend higher educa�on ins�tu�ons, it is true that there are some states 

that make it difficult for undocumented students to pursue and pay for higher educa�on. But the 

Department addressed this cri�que in the mee�ng. Grantees are held to progress against self-set 

objec�ves, and the Department would take enrollment barriers into account when approving project 

objec�ves and reviewing performance. The “prior experience” concern among grant-seekers is a nonissue. 

Finally, I encourage the Department to expand eligibility for all TRIO programs – not only Talent Search, 

Upward Bound, and Educa�onal Opportunity Centers – and add “previously atended high school in the 

U.S.” to the list of TRIO program eligibility criteria to make the eligibility expansion even more inclusive. 

While I agree with the Department about the importance and iron-clad legal basis for educa�ng all 

children in primary and secondary schools, the impact of the Department’s eligibility expansion would 

be substan�ally greater if EOC, Student Support Services, and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate 

Achievement program could serve any student who previously atended high school in the U.S., if the 

student didn’t meet other eligibility criteria. The Department has already established policy ra�onale for 

this more inclusive approach by including Student Support Services in the current Performance 

Partnership Pilot (“P3”) for Disconnected Youth it granted California and Oregon to serve undocumented 

students in TRIO programs.

Thank you for including me on the TRIO subcommitee and for your considera�on of the above. I would 

appreciate the opportunity to brief the full nego�a�ng commitee on these issues to support their 

consensus-seeking process. 

Executive Director

Washington Student Achievement Council