Stopping the Attack on Community College Budgets: The Attempted Dismantling of TRIO

The Trump administration is attacking our most at-risk students. We need to stand up and sound the alarm! 

For sixty years, federal TRIO programs have served as one of the most powerful tools in American higher education for helping first-generation and low-income students succeed in college. Our colleges host at least 21 TRIO grants across 10 of our community colleges — including City Colleges campuses and suburban institutions like Moraine Valley, Oakton, Prairie State, South Suburban, and Triton. These programs deliver tutoring, academic counseling, financial aid navigation, and structured mentorship to thousands of students each year who would otherwise face those challenges alone. 

The numbers speak for themselves: TRIO participants persist to their second year at a rate of 86%, compared to just 65% for similar students without the program, and TRIO triples bachelor's degree attainment for the lowest-income students. This is done at a cost of roughly $1,344 per student per year. This pays dividends for the students, our colleges, and the economies of the communities we serve. 

But, the Trump administration is working to eliminate these programs entirely. The FY2026 budget proposed zeroing out all $1.2 billion in federal TRIO funding. Last year, the Trump administration tried and Congress rejected that proposal with the Senate voting 71-29 to maintain funding. After this, the Trump administration moved through other means. Over 120 TRIO grants were cancelled or denied nationally, affecting an estimated 40,000 students. Hundreds of millions in appropriated funds were frozen at the start of the academic year. The federal office that oversees TRIO was gutted from 40 staff members to fewer than three. Here in Illinois, three grants were cancelled outright, stripping over $1 million in funding and cutting off services to more than 1,000 students. 

Now, the FY2027 budget, released this month, again proposes full elimination, so the fight is not over.  In Congress, bipartisan support for TRIO remains strong, but we cannot take it for granted that the same support from last year will exist in the upcoming budget fight. We know what TRIO's disappearance would mean in practice: counselors gone, caseloads unmet, students who would have persisted instead dropping out. 

CCCTU is calling on our members to take action. Contact Senators Durbin and Duckworth and your U.S. House representative and demand they protect TRIO funding in the FY2027 budget and oppose any administrative restructuring that undermines the program's college-access mission. Our students built their futures around the promise that this support would be there. We have an obligation to make sure it is.