As of Sept. 2025, two strong scholarship programs serving first-generation college students on the University of New Hampshire campus have been cut by the federal government. The Educational Talent Search (ETS) and McNair programs, both under TRIO, help thousands of students from lower-income families in New Hampshire in pursuing post-secondary education, but are now being discontinued.
Jes Crowell, the director of TRIO Scholars at UNH, explained that the cuts are a result of wording surrounding DEI on grant applications. ETS’s General Education Provisions Act statement, including such wording, was approved during Trump’s first term but was denied this time.
“Trump gave them the grant and now Trump has taken it away for something they answered on the application that he put out,” Crowell said.
In addition to TRIO cuts, New Hampshire also lost its Gear Up grant this year, which served approximately 4,000 students in the state by providing academic support, tutoring, and assistance with college applications and fees to lower-income and disadvantaged students.
“Between Gear Up and the SSS program, that’s like 5,000 students in New Hampshire that are not going to get that access to college readiness, career readiness, assistance. There was only about three percent of all grants nationwide that were canceled, and to have Gear Up, McNair, and our ETS program in New Hampshire all be, that’s devastating for a state like ours,” said Crowell.
As of Sept. 30, those programs are shut down. The aspiring college students found through ETS will no longer receive their intended scholarships.
“Now, 138 students who potentially could be going to college, whether it’s NHCI, Manchester Community, UNH, Kenne, Plymouth, St. Anselm’s, they aren’t having that assistance to apply to those colleges. So that impacts the college-going population, and it impacts the numbers when colleges are looking to recruit students and to get them to go to college,” Crowell said.
Currently, there the 32 UNH McNair scholars who lack funding. UNH has made a commitment to them for the next year to continue paying the director to work with them and to help with their projects and research papers.
“Knowing that these services aren’t going to be here for my senior year to support me to get to grad school, I definitely think the process is going to be a little bit more difficult, so I’ll have to find support from other things on campus, and it’s going to take more time,” said McNair Scholar Lucia Wondal.
Between the McNair Program and the TRIO ETS grant, 10 total UNH staff members have been let go by the university. The remaining staff have taken on the responsibility to continue supporting TRIO students and take any action possible to bring back the scholarship funding.
“Our job as TRIO SSS, as TRIO scholars, we are here for retention and graduation, so our thing is to help you from the day you get here or the day you join our program, to then watch you cross that stage. So we’re going to do whatever we can to help you get there by connecting our resources, also in the least amount of bill,” said Crowell.
“The faculty advisor that I had for McNair, she supported me so much that it helped my academic career in ways that I would have never even imagined… The McNair program has basically changed all of our lives, whether that’s life skills, learning how to be a better presenter, or mostly being confident in ourselves and in our research,” said Wondal.
Executive Director for Student Success Dawna Perez talked about the importance of having programs that help the students navigate the college experience.
“There really is a strong community built in the program, so staff frequently end up staying in contact with students throughout their lifetimes,” said Perez.
Earlier in Sept., the UNH administration called on Governor Kelly Ayotte as well as state senators and representatives to act to help save the programs at risk of government cuts. Ayotte wasn’t able to make the case until Sept. 30, Perez said, and the applications to reinstate the programs were denied.
“Unfortunately, it did not make the difference, but the effort was recognized,” Perez said.
While the funding for these programs is lost for this year, the Council for Opportunity in Education plans to take action against the U.S. Department of Education and its Secretary, Linda McMahon, for cutting TRIO programs, as they believe their actions were driven by "anti-DEI policies" and are a part of a broader effort to dismantle the department.
“There is no change for the 2025 to 2026 year to be refunded or reinstated, but there is litigation happening. COE has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the canceled programs. The intention is to try to recover the money that was allocated and that was unlawfully taken away to be given back. The money could be returned, but the programs aren’t restarted in terms of the grants. That remains to be seen and could take who knows how many months,” said Perez.
