TRIO Garners Major Attention at House Subcommittee Hearing on HEA

 

UConn’s Dr. Maria D. Martinez testifies before House panel on Effectiveness of TRIO

March 22, 2007

 

TRIO took center stage at a Congressional subcommittee hearing Thursday as the panel considered “Approaches to College Preparation,” with warm words from the chairman and nearly everyone involved.

 

Dr. Maria D. Martinez, director of the University of Connecticut’s Center for Academic Programs, told members of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness that TRIO has been working effectively at UConn for forty years.

 

After describing the impressive results of the SSS, Talent Search and Upward Bound programs at UConn, Martinez said: “What I need you to appreciate is that our record of achievement confirms the success of TRIO and its impact nationwide.”

 

Martinez closed with a brief description of UConn SSS alumnus Franklin Chang-Diaz, America’s first Hispanic astronaut.

 

“Dr. Chang-Diaz, who flew seven space missions (the current world record) vividly remembers the challenges of his early years and credits TRIO with helping change his life. When asked about TRIO’s impact, Dr. Chang-Diaz said it best: ‘TRIO is one of the ways this country really becomes the Land of Opportunity’.”

 

Panelists representing GEAR UP, College Summit, Inc. and the National Governors Association joined Martinez in testifying before the subcommittee. However, no one received more questions than Martinez and she handled them deftly.

 

Subcommittee Chair Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), who recently spoke at COE’s Policy Seminar, noted that TRIO was part of the original federal Higher Education Act conceived as part of former President Johnson’s War on Poverty. And though TRIO programs have existing for four decades, he noted that they only serve a small fraction of the eligible students.

 

“The President’s budget calls for $90 billion for student aid programs, but only about $1.1 billion for college preparation programs,” Hinojosa said. Level funding has represented an actual funding decrease since 2005, Hinojosa said, adding “we need to do better.”

 

Rep. Joseph Courtney (D-CT), a new member of the panel, welcomed Martinez (his constituent) and observed that there is a “widening gap” in educational attainment between rich and poor Americans. That gap “presents real problems for our economic competitiveness,” Courtney said.

 

The lone negative message of the afternoon was issued by Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL), the ranking Republican member of the subcommittee. Keller said that “If America hopes to remain competitive, we need to ensure that students are graduating from high school with the ability, the opportunity, and the desire to pursue their dreams of a college education.”

 

Keller, acknowledging the value of TRIO programs, issued a brief challenge to the concept of rewarding successful programs in grant competitions. The use of prior experience points “shuts new applicants out of these programs,” Keller said.

 

In a follow-up press release issued by Republican House committee staff, Keller said: “I fundamentally believe that competition breeds better products and services, but the competition should be fair, and the winners awarded on their merits as much as prior experience.”

 

After the hearing, Heather Valentine, COE’s vice president for public policy, commented on Keller’s words. “This was a message to the TRIO community that prior experience is on the House Republican agenda,” she said. “We are on the move with respect to increasing the TRIO appropriation this year,” she said, “but issues like prior experience and the Upward Bound Absolute Priority are also challenges we need to address as a community.”

 

• Click here  (.pdf) to read the hearing testimony of Director Dr. Maria Martinez.