Programs to help low-income kids attend college hit by Trump cuts

This excerpt is from the Boston Globe Editorial Board.

For years, North Shore Community College has run Upward Bound, a federally funded program that advises Lynn Public School students — mainly those who are low-income or whose parents didn’t attend college — about applying to college. The intensive program provides academic tutoring, a summer program, college visits, and help filling out college and financial aid applications.

This September, in the middle of a $2.3 million, five-year grant cycle, the Trump administration discontinued the grant because officials said it wasn’t aligned with administration priorities and may violate federal anti-discrimination law.

“The application two or three years ago asked for specific ways the college was going to ensure it was recruiting students from backgrounds that were underrepresented for college attendance,” North Shore Community College President William Heineman told the editorial board. “Now the concern is presumably that we’re paying too much attention to the background of the students. The logic is lost on us.”