University of the Pacific receives $1.7M federal grant. Future funding is uncertain

The Department of Education recently awarded the University of the Pacific, which operates McGeorge Law School in Sacramento, a $1.7 million grant to retain first generation students and students with disabilities and help them graduate, despite White House efforts to cut the federal program.

TRIO, whose name derives from an original group of three services but now includes eight, is a program by the Department of Education designed to identify and provide services for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Since 1979, it has helped more than 1,400 University of the Pacific students and more than 6 million Americans earn college degrees.

The five-year TRIO Student Support Services grant will help fund academic tutoring, financial aid, scholarship guidance, career exploration, personal and academic counseling and mentoring for 200 students per year at the college. Another TRIO program at the university provides tutoring, college exploration and a six-week summer program for first-generation or low-income students at Edison High School in Stockton.

TRIO programs on California campuses served over 100,000 participants in the 2023-24 academic year at community colleges and both public and private universities across the state. UC Davis, American River College and Cosumnes River College have each benefited from several branches of the federal initiative to the tune of millions per year.

Funds for this school year have been disbursed to colleges across the country, but the grant program’s future is not certain. The Trump administration, as a part of a larger effort to defund education federally, has proposed to cut TRIO services starting in fiscal year 2026.

Funding for TRIO next year is up in the air until Congress finalizes the appropriations bill later this year. Though the program receives bipartisan support, a May budget request from the White House argues that the program is a “relic of the past” and that “access to college is not the obstacle it was for students of limited means.”

“A renewed focus on academics and scholastic accomplishment by (institutions of higher education), rather than engaging in woke ideology with Federal taxpayer subsidies, would be a welcome change for students and the future of the Nation,” the request reads.

But students and educators at the University of the Pacific say that TRIO has been instrumental to many first-generation students’ success.

“I was losing hope of getting back on my feet. TRIO helped me back on my feet and achieve academic success,” said Jennyfer Pacheco, a student at University of the Pacific. “They’re like a second family. If you have any doubts, problems, or need someone to talk to, TRIO is always waiting with open arms.”