Editor’s note: This is the third story in a collaborative series covering the state of Northwest college admissions in 2025. It was reported by KNKX through the Northwest News Network public media partnership. The second story in the series published on Nov. 10.
On a recent afternoon in Seattle, college advisor Leslie Jacobo bounced around a table — switching between work on a Dell laptop and an iPad — to help two prospective college students fill out their financial aid forms.
Jacobo is an advisor at El Centro de la Raza’s College GANAS program, a non-profit that helps students access higher education. The two students were eager to enroll in classes, but Jacobo raised a concern about signing up for the winter quarter.
“Lo que me preocupa es que te metas a la cora de invierno y que no tengas la ayuda financiera. Y que tengas que pagar tú,” Jacobo said.
She explained in Spanish that their financial aid likely wouldn’t be ready in time, meaning they would have to pay out of pocket for that term. It’s a typical misunderstanding that could cause big problems down the line.
These types of conversations are playing out across the country right now as high school and non-traditional students are applying for college, but Jacobo said she’s busier this season compared with previous years.
“I think there's a lot of programs and help that is being cut out in the community and in schools,” Jacobo said.
Cuts, delays to federally funded programs in the Northwest
The Trump administration’s budget proposal for 2026 includes cuts to several federally funded programs that help students access college, arguing that entry is not the obstacle it once was for students with limited means.
The administration has also cut funding for federal grants that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), calling them an “immense public waste.”
TRIO, a federal initiative that serves underrepresented students across the nation, is just one example. It had more than 120 of its programs lose grant funding in September.
Matt Bisek, executive director for the Oregon Trio Association, said some of those programs used DEI language in their funding applications.
“Some of those statements were still attached to these grants, under a completely different administration, and they (applicants) were almost being targeted and penalized for that, when it was the request of the previous administration,” he said.
He said he knows of five TRIO programs in Washington state that had their grant funding canceled. Those programs supported more than 1,700 students across the state. There were no TRIO grants canceled in Oregon, he said, but there were delays in distributing those funds.
“Some of our folks were actually laid off temporarily. Once they got the award, they were brought back, but (it) just created disruption and even a reasonable amount of turnover,” he said.
Need for college counseling support
This is all happening at a time when students are seeking more support. Isabel Corona-Campiz, college advisor at El Centro de la Raza’s office south of Seattle, said students are more concerned this year about providing personal information on their financial aid forms.
“I would say that I have seen a definite increase in hesitation to even apply to college,” she said.
As deportation efforts ramp up across the nation, she said more students are asking if it’s safe to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA), depending on their family’s citizenship status.
“I think that's one of the most common questions, it’s like, ‘oh, who can see this’, because a lot of times, there's students who maybe they themselves are U.S. citizens, but perhaps their parents aren't,” she said.
Corona-Campiz can talk students through those challenges and offer alternatives. In Washington, for example, students can fill out the Washington Application for State Financial Aid, which does not require a Social Security number. Oregon students have a similar option called the Oregon Student Aid Application.
Corona-Campiz said she understands the difficulty of being a first-generation student applying to college because she was one.
“I think the first-gen experience is still so unique. Even if you do have maybe a sibling or a cousin, it's still not the same as having, like a parent or someone to really guide you through these things,” she said.
Corona-Campiz is from a small town in central Washington and received support applying for college from a federally funded TRIO program called Upward Bound.
“I feel like navigating that on my own, maybe I wouldn't have even known about financial aid. I would have just gone into debt, or not gone at all,” she said.
That experience is what motivated her to help other first-generation students apply for college, and she hopes others like her can continue to access that same help.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.