A bill to restore funding for a University of Maine at Farmington program that helps high school students with college readiness received its initial approval in the state Senate last week. 

River Valley Upward Bound had upward of $600,000 in promised funding revoked by the Trump administration last September with two years left in a five-year grant. 

If passed, LD 2147 would restore over $300,000 to the university’s program. It would support at least 139 students across 14 high schools in the 2026-27 school year, according to a news release from the Senate Majority Office.

“While it’s unfortunate to see the federal government slash a program that benefits first-generation students in rural Maine, I’m honored to have earned the unanimous support of my Senate colleagues,” said Sen. Jill Duson, D-Portland, a sponsor of the bill and Upward Bound graduate. “I look forward to getting this bill across the finish line on behalf of Maine students.”

The program, which provides support to low-income and first-generation college students, has exceeded state expectations, Samantha Warren, spokesperson for the University of Maine System, said in testimony for a Jan. 21 public hearing on the bill. 

Students in the 2023-24 River Valley cohort had a 100% high school graduation rate compared to the state average of 88%, and two-thirds of the students pursued postsecondary education, Warren said. 

“On nearly all measures for which UMF must report outcomes to the federal government, River Valley Upward Bound exceeded federal goals and even state outcomes, with higher secondary school grade point averages and rates of graduation, college-going, and college completion,” she said.

The bill was supported by all nine individuals who submitted testimony at the hearing, including Upward Bound graduates and former staff.

The Senate’s approval moves the bill to the House of Representatives, which is likely to vote on it next week. If ultimately approved, the bill will head to the Appropriations Committee for funding sometime later in the session.

River Valley Upward Bound, run by the University of Maine at Farmington, is one of 2,800 “TRIO” programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education that prepares low-income, first-generation students, or students with a disability, for college.

It serves students at Mountain Valley High School, Edward Little High School, Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, among others, and provides counseling, advising, help accessing financial aid, a summer residential experience program and a college bridge week program. 

The termination notice from the U.S. Department of Education said that River Valley Upward Bound included diversity and social justice programming and thus ran counter to Trump administration policies.

The University of Maine System disputed the education department’s claims, saying the program aligned with recent federal guidance. An appeal was unsuccessful.