Bipartisan push follows reports that Upward Bound programs have yet to receive funding due for the coming program year
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon yesterday urging the Department of Education to immediately release TRIO Upward Bound grants—which fund programs preparing high school students of disadvantaged backgrounds for attending college—to current grant recipients. The Senators’ request comes following reports that Upward Bound programs have yet to receive the funding they’ve been promised for the coming program year.
“Given that current recipients of Upward Bound grants were already successfully awarded their five-year grants from the Department of Education in 2022, Upward Bound programs should have the assurance that they will receive this funding for the fourth year of their grants,” the Senators wrote. “This delay in grant distribution, as well as a lack of information or guidance from the agency, is causing extreme uncertainty for Upward Bound programs across the country.”
“For nearly 60 years, Upward Bound programs have given generations of students the support they need to help succeed in higher education and beyond,” they continued. “The current delay in funding distribution is creating an unnecessary and existential crisis for these critical programs and the students they serve.”
“We urge you to immediately provide Upward Bound programs with the federal funding they’ve been promised,” the Senators concluded.
The complete text of the letter can be read here.
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