Nevada has joined 20 states and Washington, D.C., opposing the U.S. Department of Education's cuts to programs that support disadvantaged college students, including three programs in Nevada.

Last year, UNLV, UNR, the College of Southern Nevada (CSN), Nevada State University and Truckee Meadows Community College received 36 grants from the federal TRIO program, which refers to the three original programs from the federal initiative, totaling about $11.8 million. Those grants supported about 8,000 first-generation and low-income students.

But earlier this year, the department discontinued dozens of ongoing grants that were funded through 2026 and denied new applications that were previously required to describe how grant funding would expand equity and accessibility. Federal officials had retroactively applied new Trump administration policies that restrict diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford's office said in an Oct. 28 statement. Ford is an alum of a TRIO program. 

Three programs in Nevada were affected by the federal actions, which led to the closure of CSN's TRIO Student Support Services Office, as The Nevada Independent reported in September. 

The amicus brief filed Monday by Nevada and the other states argues that this could mean fewer students going to and graduating from college, which could harm the 20 states and Washington, D.C., as well as their residents and their economies. 

"The public interest thus strongly favors an injunction preserving the fair and transparent process that governed TRIO grants before the government's unlawful actions," the brief states.

Read the briefs below: