[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3366-S3367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. Baldwin, Mrs. Capito, and Mr. 
        Tester):
  S. 1803. A bill to modify the Federal TRIO programs; to the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Educational 
Opportunity and Success Act, a bill to strengthen the Federal TRIO 
Programs and improve their administration. Across the Nation, TRIO 
helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds gain access to a college 
education and provide many of the supports that they need to prepare 
for, succeed in, and graduate from higher education programs. I would 
very much like to thank Senator Baldwin, Senator Capito, and Senator 
Tester for joining me as original cosponsors.
  In the State of Maine, TRIO Programs serve students from all over our 
State and are focused on increasing educational opportunities for first 
generation, low-income, and disabled students. From 2007 to 2017, TRIO 
has expanded from 20 programs to 28 in our State and has expanded from 
serving 6,690 students to nearly 7,500 students in our State. Over the 
course of my Senate service, I have been so inspired by the stories of 
countless TRIO students with whom I have talked. They have described to 
me firsthand the positive impact of these programs on their academic 
success and on their futures.
  For example, Autumn Mallet from Bangor, ME, graduated from Bangor 
High School in 2015, unsure about whether she even wanted to pursue 
higher education. Neither she nor her parents had any experience with 
higher education. That is very typical of what I found in talking with 
students who are enrolled in the TRIO Programs. Autumn decided to 
enroll at Eastern Maine Community College, where she connected with 
TRIO's Student Support Services Program. Autumn called TRIO 
``irreplaceable'' and her ``full support system.'' The academic 
advisers were her ``go-to people'' when it came to signing up for 
classes, finding tutors, navigating financial aid, and advocating for 
herself.
  Autumn graduated in May 2018 with an associate's degree in liberal 
studies and secondary education, and she has gone on to the University 
of Maine where she is currently earning her bachelor's degree. At the 
University, she also taps into the resources of the Student Support 
Services Program. And, very movingly, Autumn is giving back to TRIO. 
She is a TRIO peer mentor at Eastern Maine Community College, helping 
students, just like herself, successfully navigate higher education and 
giving them the tools and the confidence to succeed. For Autumn, TRIO 
has made all the difference as she has pursued her own goals and helped 
other students achieve theirs.
  Congress created the TRIO Programs because it recognized that low-
income, first-generation students often face significant financial and 
societal obstacles to accessing and achieving success in higher 
education. The Educational Opportunity and Success Act would better 
serve those students by implementing key reforms.
  First, and most important, our bipartisan bill would reauthorize the 
TRIO Programs for an additional 5 years.
  Second, our bill would instruct the Department of Education to 
publish guidance at least 90 days before each grant competition, giving 
colleges and universities adequate opportunity to prepare the 
successful applications to secure the funding needed to offer the TRIO 
Programs.
  Third, our bill would remove the administrative burdens in the 
application process for these schools, making sure that Federal funds 
get out the door more efficiently and to the programs and the students 
they are meant to serve. Under the current administrative process, many 
colleges and universities experience delays while the Department 
reviews administrative errors before making all of the grant awards. 
This reform would help to expedite the grant process.
  Fourth, our legislation would institute commonsense guidelines at the 
Department of Education for TRIO grant applications.
  Let me tell you what happened in 2017. In that year, the Department 
initially rejected dozens of applications for the Upward Bound Program 
based on arbitrary, nonsubstantive formatting criteria, such as line 
spacing and font size irregularities. This was bureaucracy at its 
worst. One of those applications was from the University of Maine at 
Presque Isle, which had been a longtime recipient of funding to provide 
TRIO Programs. Here is what happened with the University of Maine at 
Presque Isle. It submitted a 65-page application. In that application, 
the University of Maine of Presque Isle used 1\1/2\-line spacing 
instead of double spacing in the text appearing in the graphics on two 
of its application's 65 pages.
  I am not making this up. For that reason alone, because the spacing 
was 1\1/2\ lines rather than 2 on just 2 of the graphs in a 65-page 
application, the Department of Education rejected it--based on that 
alone.
  The Department's bureaucratic decision would have denied 960 
disadvantaged Maine high school students the chance to fulfill their 
academic potential. Imagine that--that 960 students, who needed the 
support of the TRIO Program to be successful, would not have been 
served because of a tiny formatting error on 2 pages of a 65-page 
application. It was nothing substantive, just a formatting error.
  After months of advocacy, I was able to work with the Department of 
Education and my Appropriations colleagues to reverse this ill-
conceived decision, and I am very happy to report that the University 
of Maine of Presque Isle is today serving those students.
  Our bill would prevent the Department of Education from rejecting 
applications simply on the basis of the formatting criteria that it 
suggests and instead would establish a straightforward process of 
correction for applications with minor formatting or budgeting errors. 
This is a commonsense reform that will prevent unnecessary bureaucratic 
obstacles in the future--obstacles that have a real impact on the lives 
of the students who are intended to benefit from the TRIO Programs.
  Fifth, our bill would make it simpler for students who receive free 
and reduced-priced lunches and Pell grants to qualify for the TRIO 
Programs. Proving income eligibility can be a barrier to services, and 
this bill would make it easier to identify potential participants for 
the TRIO Programs.
  The bill would also update TRIO eligibility criteria to reflect the 
most recent requirements for Federal financial aid. This would ensure 
that TRIO administrators would not have to consult multiple data 
sources and can instead use a student's most recent financial aid 
information to determine eligibility for the TRIO Programs rather than 
having them go through an additional process.
  Finally, the bill would require the Department of Education to 
conduct additional virtual training sessions, better ensuring that all 
areas of the country--especially our small, rural communities--have the 
ability to know about and access the TRIO Programs.
  As the longtime cochair of the Congressional TRIO Caucus, I have long 
supported the TRIO Programs. I have worked to ensure that they are 
reaching the students who most need them. So many students in Maine and 
across the country have truly had their lives changed by these 
wonderful programs, such as Upward Bound. They have been introduced to 
the world of higher education. They have been given the support they 
need to succeed. In my State, where so many families simply do not have 
experience with higher education, the TRIO Programs have made all the 
difference for their sons and daughters.

[[Page S3367]]

  I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan Educational 
Opportunity and Success Act.
                                 ______