Local happenings

Risks to Trio Funding

By Elizabeth Lachermeier (elachermeier@css.edu)

February 28, 2025

Potential federal funding cuts are putting the TRIO program at risk. This is due to the Trump Administration exploring the possibility of making striking cuts to the Department of Education. As a result, numerous educational programs that are currently being funded by the federal government would lose their source of funding. Matt Hoeschen, the director of St. Scholastica’s Student Support Program (SSS), addressed these concerns.

At the current moment, the program is running as usual. “As of right now we are full steam ahead, activities as usual,” he reported. “That could change depending on future executive orders or determinations made by the Department of Education.”

These future executive orders have the potential to work against TRIO. TRIO has a long history of demonstrating its effectiveness in helping students graduate. Hoeschen went on to say, “TRIO has always been able to prove and show how [their] programs work and help serve students.”

Hoeschen was able to provide statistics from the 23–24 SSS Annual Report that proved TRIO’s effectiveness here at St. Scholastica. The Report showed a 90% retention rate of first-time first-year students who participated in the program from Fall 2023 to Fall 2024. Hoeschen went on to explain that SSS-eligible students who were not served only showed a 75% retention rate. 

TRIO services run from middle school to graduate school. “It was really [formed] to create a pipeline of support from middle school all the way to graduate school, to try to get students and young people interested in college; and then when in college, Student Support Services serve them,” he explained. St. Scholastica has five TRIO programs, three of which work with middle school to high school area students. The two programs that directly support college students are Student Support Services and McNair Scholars.

The main purpose of the TRIO program is to help underserved students. “For students to be eligible for the [SSS] program they have to meet one of the following: have a disability, be income eligible, or be first generation,” he commented. “So the population that we aim to serve do face certain barriers that students that are not in that type of group don’t face.”

There are many services that TRIO offers to students in these groups. “We provide support for them: academic support, financial literacy, personal growth and development, career, graduate school,” he explained. “We do wrap-around services to help students get to graduation, which is the whole goal.”

These services have had a big impact; meaning that the absence of these services would prove to have considerable consequences. “I think the concern is, if the program went away completely, we would see fewer people accessing college and getting degrees nationwide,” he concluded. 

In 2023, St. Scholastica received over 1.7 million dollars in federal funding for their five TRIO programs. If the government decides to cut off its funding for these programs, the College is under no obligation to continue the services using their own finances. Concerning this possible event, Hoeschen expressed, “If that were the case it would look very different, TRIO as we know it wouldn’t exist anymore, but there would be other ways of supporting students through the amazing staff we have in Student Affairs.”