NH Congressional Delegation Calls on Trump Administration to Restore Funding for New Hampshire Education Grants 

Amid a flurry of education grant cancellations by the Trump administration, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01)  joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Senator Maggie Hassan (NH), and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02) in urging U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to restore Congressionally approved funding for New Hampshire programs. In two separate letters, the Congressional delegation calls for the Department to restore funding for the Education Alliance for New Hampshire’s Statewide Family Engagement Center grant and TRIO grants for the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) Talent Search and McNair programs.   

On the Family Engagement Center Grant, the delegation wrote, in part: “As you know, through the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) Program, the Department of Education (ED) funds organizations that provide technical assistance to improve family engagement for student success. […] This programming helps students across the country have greater support from their families for their academic success. In New Hampshire, the Education Alliance for New Hampshire operates the SFEC with a grant from the Department awarded in 2022. This program year alone, the center has served more than 1,500 families in improving their capacity to support their children, with a majority of participating families reporting stronger connections with their children’s schools.” 

They concluded: “Unfortunately, ED notified the Education Alliance for NH on September 5 that this grant would be terminated. Without this funding, families and school districts will lose a crucial resource for improving community support for our students at a time when students are experiencing significant challenges with academic ability and social and emotional well-being. This premature termination would cut off the grantee’s ability to serve our whole state, including the most rural areas. Ensuring our students’ caregivers and family are fully engaged in their educational success is key to building sustainable improvement in student success and community well-being. In light of these considerations, we urge you to reverse the termination of this grant.” 

The delegation’s letter calling for the restoration of the Family Engagement Center Grant can be read HERE. 

On UNH’s TRIO grants, the delegation wrote, in part: “As you know, the Talent Search (TS) grant funds institutions of higher education and other organizations around the country in supporting high school competition and encouraging college enrollment among students of low-income background or those who may be the first in their family to attend college [...] Separately, the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (“McNair”) funds universities to help prepare students for postgraduate studies and support their attainment of advanced degrees. The program enables universities to increase access for students from low-income backgrounds, who may not have a family history of higher education, to postgraduate opportunities and success.” 

They concluded: “We are extremely concerned that, after a delay in the disbursement of TRIO funding, the Department of Education notified the UNH TS program on September 15th that ED was terminating this grant, and it notified the university on September 16th that its McNair grant would also be terminated. The UNH TS program is no longer able to operate as of September 19th due to lack of remaining funds, and the McNair program’s funding ends at the end of September. Termination of these grants would end these essential programs permanently and jeopardize the success of the students currently being served. Supporting students of low-income backgrounds in finding success in higher education helps grow our workforce, in line with the goals of this administration. These TS and McNair grants for UNH are essential for that purpose. Accordingly, we urge you to reconsider the termination of both of these grants.”  

The delegation’s letter calling for the restoration of UNH’s TRIO grants can be read HERE.  

The Congressional delegation has been outspoken in standing up for Granite State students in the wake of cuts to programs that support New Hampshire’s schools and universities. Last week, the delegation called on the administration to restore funding for New Hampshire’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). The delegation also recently urged U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to reconsider the termination of the Franklin School District’s Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) grant to support professional development and preventative measures against violence in schools and among students.