ICYMI: In Senate Hearing, Shaheen Presses Secretary McMahon to Preserve Education Grants Supporting Granite State Students, Address Public Service Loan Forgiveness Buyback Program Backlogs

(Washington, DC) – In today’s hearing examining the President’s budget request for the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee , grilled Education Secretary Linda McMahon on whether the Administration intends to eliminate education grants administered by the Department such as TRIO, GEAR UP and Upward Bound, that create educational opportunities for first-generation and disadvantaged students. The Trump Administration has continually attempted to erode or completely eliminate successful and effective programs that make education more affordable for Granite State students. Shaheen also pressed Secretary McMahon on the growing backlog of applications, both in New Hampshire and nationally, for the critical Public Service Loan Forgiveness Buyback program and the lack of responsiveness by the Department to borrowers enrolling in the program. Click HERE to watch Senator Shaheen’s full remarks and questions. Key quotes from Senator Shaheen: "I have metrics that say, [...] in evaluating TRIO, that there are higher rates of retention for students in higher education, they have higher rates of graduation, they have Upward Bound students who earn a bachelor's degree at twice the rate of non-TRIO first-generation students [...] I would just point out anecdotally, we heard from one TRIO alum, Heather, from Berlin, New Hampshire [...] Since her TRIO experiences, Heather has earned two bachelor’s degrees, two master’s degrees and a PhD.” “It [TRIO] may be a high cost, but this Congress passed the President's One Big Beautiful Bill that provided a tax cut for people with an annual income of over $1 million dollars and it’s now costing the taxpayers over $1 trillion. It’s added $4.6 trillion to the federal deficit. So I think comparing that to the cost of TRIO and Gear Up programs, which each cost $1.2 billion annually and provide opportunities for thousands of young people to better themselves, is a much better balance of payments.” “One of the topics that my office gets a lot of calls about is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Buyback program, which is administered by the Department of Education. What we hear from applicants is that they have heard from your department that they will get their applications answered within 45 days. But my staff tells me that it’s often nine months to a year before my constituents get a substantive response. We currently have over 70 constituents waiting just in our office for answers about their applications. Nationally there are over 88,000 applicants waiting to hear from the Department, and that number has grown by 4,000 just since February. So, can you talk about how you intend to deal with this backlog?” Senator Shaheen has been outspoken in standing up for Granite State students in the wake of the Trump Administration’s cuts to programs that support New Hampshire’s schools and universities. This month, following changes by the Department of Education that would alter the scope of the TRIO Talent Search and Educational Opportunity Center grant applications, Shaheen led the New Hampshire Congressional delegation in calling on Secretary McMahon to rescind the applications and for current programs to receive a one-year extension in order to preserve educational support for first-generation and disadvantaged students. Shaheen has also called on the Department of Education to restore Congressionally approved funding for the Education Alliance for New Hampshire’s Statewide Family Engagement Center grant, TRIO grants for the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) Talent Search and McNair programs and the state’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). ###