Senator Collins Delivers Remarks, Meets Mainers at TRIO Conference Supporting Low-Income, First-Generation Students

Maine has 30 TRIO programs serving almost 7,600 students across the state

Click HERE for a high-resolution photo of (from L to R) Doris Juarez, Kate Michaud, Monique Mills, and Sen. Collins

Click HERE for video of Sen. Collins’ remarks

Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Susan Collins delivered remarks at the non-profit Council for Opportunity in Education’s (COE) annual Policy Seminar.  The event was attended by hundreds of TRIO administrators and counselors, alumni, students, staff retirees, and other college access supporters. 

Senator Collins was welcomed by three Mainers who are successful alumni of TRIO programs.  Doris Juarez, who was raised in Portland by parents who immigrated from Guatemala, is an Alumna of USM's Upward Bound Program.  She graduated from Smith College with high honors in Biology and was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.  Kate Michaud, who resides in Brewer, graduated from high school homeless.  With assistance through TRIO, she earned her Associates of Science in Nursing.  She currently works at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bangor and is continuing her education by pursuing a masters in Nursing Leadership at Franklin Pierce University.  Monique Mills grew up in Skowhegan.  She enrolled in the Upward Bound program and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maine at Machias.  She currently lives in Bar Harbor, where she is a fourth-year Biomedical Science Ph.D. candidate at The Jackson Laboratory via the University of Maine Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering. 

Each year, Senator Collins, the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional TRIO Caucus, co-leads the effort to fully fund TRIO programs that help low-income and first-generation students enroll in and graduate from college.  The government funding package that Congress passed and the President signed into law this month provided a $40 million increase for the TRIO programs, bringing the total to $1.14 billion– the highest-ever funding level.  Senator Collins has also authored legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the programs.  Nationally, there are more than 3,100 TRIO programs serving more than 800,000 students.  In Maine, 30 TRIO programs serve almost 7,600 students all over the state. 

“I am proud to be an advocate for these important and often life-changing programs.  Supporting TRIO funding each year helps extend the reach of these programs.  The need for continued targeted investments in TRIO has been made even more urgent by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has challenged every stage of our nation’s education system,” said Senator Collins.  “Without TRIO’s individualized counseling, advising, and support, many low-income, first-generation students may lose opportunities for a better life.  When we lend a hand to those who have the motivation to pursue higher education but lack the means, they give back to their communities.”

During her remarks, Senator Collins recounted her effective push in 2017 to reverse a misguided decision by the Department of Education that denied dozens of applications for Upward Bound funding based on arbitrary, non-substantive formatting criteria such as line spacing or font size irregularities.  Among the rejected applicants was the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI).  As a result of Senator Collins’ sustained advocacy, UMPI ultimately received its TRIO grant that provided approximately 960 disadvantaged high school students in Maine with the chance to realize their academic potential and achieve their higher education dreams. 

Last year, Senators Collins, Jon Tester (D-MT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Educational Opportunity and Success Act that would reauthorize the federal TRIO Programs and make key reforms to make it easier to enroll students in the TRIO programs.  One of the provisions in Senator Collins’ bill would permanently prevent the situation UMPI faced.

COE was founded in 1981 and is dedicated to promoting opportunities for low-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities in all 50 states by helping students enter and graduate college.  Its membership includes more than 1,000 colleges and agencies.

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