WHAT IS TRIO?
Our nation has asserted a commitment to providing an educational opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, ethnic background, or economic circumstance.
In support of this commitment, Congress established a series of programs to help low-income Americans enter college, graduate, and move on to participate more fully in America’s economic and social life.
These Programs are funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and are referred to as the TRIO Programs (initially just three programs).
While student financial aid programs help students overcome financial barriers to higher education, TRIO programs help students overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to higher education.
WHO IS SERVED?
As mandated by Congress, two-thirds of the students served must come from families with incomes under $28,000, where neither parent graduated from college.
More than 2,700 TRIO Programs currently serve nearly 866,000 low-income Americans; losing over 70,000 within the last 5 years. Many programs serve students in grades six through 12. Thirty-seven percent of TRIO students are Whites, 35% are African-Americans, 19% are Hispanics, 4% are Native Americans, 4% are Asian-Americans, and 1% are listed as “Other,” including multiracial students.
Twenty-two thousand students with disabilities and more than 25,000 U.S. veterans are currently enrolled in the TRIO Programs as well.
For more race and ethnicity data for each TRIO Program (Upward Bound, UB Math/Science, SSS, Talent Search, EOC, and McNair), see “Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Federal TRIO Programs,” a News You Can Use fact sheet from the National TRIO Clearinghouse.
TRIO PROGRAMS EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
The Federal TRIO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO includes six outreach and support programs targeted to serve and assist low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.
TRIO also includes a training program for directors and staff of TRIO projects and a dissemination partnership program to encourage the replication or adaptation of successful practices of TRIO projects at institutions and agencies that do not have TRIO grants.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMS
- Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement
- Student Support Services
- Talent Search
- Upward Bound
- Upward Bound Math – Science
- Veterans Upward Bound
- Training Program for Federal TRIO Programs Staff
Administrative Office
904 13th Street
Alexandria, Louisiana 71301
Phone: 318-767-0707
Fax: 318-767-0703
