Metaphorically speaking, college is a deep pool. Sinking in the college pool can mean tens of thousands of dollars of debt, unrealized professional potential and possibly less earning potential.
Some people have more resources available to them at the onset of their college careers.
There are some people who don’t have access to those same resources, and the possibility of sinking is greater.
TRIO – Student Support Services is a national program designed to help first-generation students, students from low-income backgrounds and students with disabilities graduate by providing mentoring, tutoring and access to dedicated computer labs.
“Historically, I’ve helped explain what the university is,” said Lacey Hites, TRIO advisor. “Getting to know students personally and then helping them to figure out what they’re doing here and also, not only how it works in college, but how to make college work for them. Helping them find a purpose within their academics and a game plan for getting through it and getting out of it.”
Chris Beggs, director of TRIO at UCM, said the program is funded almost entirely by competitive federal grants that are not guaranteed. He said to receive the grants there has to be a demonstration the program is needed at the university and a demonstration of success with the program.
“We have objectives,” he said. “Students have to graduate, students have to be retained, students have to remain in good academic standing. If they don’t, we don’t get to continue doing this.”
Beggs said the objectives are that 75 percent of the program participants maintain or achieve good academic standing, 70 percent of the students served return the following year and 35 percent graduate within six years of the first date of service. He said while a 35 percent graduation rate doesn’t seem high, the U.S. Department of Education views it as an achievable goal for students who qualify for TRIO services.
He said the TRIO program at UCM has met those objectives consistently: Between 2014-2016, 93 percent of students were in good academic standing, 82 percent returned the following year and between 2009-2011, 42 percent had received their bachelor’s degree within six years.
Beggs said prior to this year the program received a 4.25 percent increase in funding, or about $30,000. He said this will allow the program to increase the number of students it serves from 216 to 225; He said approximately 60 percent of the students enrolled at UCM fall into at least one of the qualifying categories for TRIO services.
He said the increase in funding will also go toward enhancing some of the services provided.
“We’ll actually be expanding some of our space in Humphreys, because our students have asked for more space,” Beggs said. “Our labs can be quite cramped sometimes, and because we’re serving students in 150-plus degree programs they’re going to need space to do some things a little more practical… We’ll be purchasing laptops for our students because many of them don’t have their own devices. It’s almost a like a hidden rule in higher ed. that you should have a laptop. When you have that expectation but students don’t have those resources, we get to provide them. Funding like this helps us do those things for students who lack the means.”
Beggs said the program has received help from the campus community.
“I’ve been very impressed with faculty at UCM,” he said. “We had one who wishes to remain anonymous who has bought supplies for our students before to help them be prepared in class. Other people who are big friends of our programs who will create opportunities and scholarships and grants.”
While offering aid for class work is available in the TRIO office, Hites said oftentimes students need help beyond academics and in a variety of ways.
“On any given day, that could be a pep talk, that could be a reminder, that could be a hug,” she said. “There’s a lot of stuff that impacts a student’s ability to graduate and to be successful in any given semester, and most of it is not academics. It’s the things happening outside of that.”
She said students who qualify for TRIO services, particularly first-generation students and low-income students, often have concerns outside of school that lead them to feel they don’t belong.
“It’s stress about money, it’s stress about family, it’s stress about their own mental state and that annoying voice in the back of their head that says they’re not supposed to be here,” she said.
Hites said students who are the first in their families to go to college can often feel disconnected from home. She said as a first-generation college student herself, she understands that disconnect and some of the misunderstanding that takes place.
“That’s the background a lot of these students are coming from,” she said. “When they call home, it’s never, ‘How’s class, what are you learning, tell me about school.’ It’s, ‘Let me tell you about what you’re missing here.’ So they’re always looking to their family for that support, but it’s not there because the conversation is never around academics. It’s never about the future. It’s about what’s happening right now.”
Kayla Miles, a senior health studies major, said she discovered the TRIO program after working in the office as a receptionist. Prior to working in the office, she said she didn’t know these resources were available.
“I was seeing how much students appreciated the TRIO office and all of the staff,” she said. “I was like, ‘You know, I might as well get in there,’ because I met all of the requirements.”
Miles said the focused attention she’s received in the TRIO program made a difference in her college experience.
“It definitely made it a lot better,” she said. “The different things they have available to students, even something simple like free printing and having an advisor who is so close and connected with you. (Hites) doesn’t have a bunch of other students and just sends you off. Having a real advisor who is actually advising you and helping you and making sure everything is going smoothly. That makes a big difference.”
TRIO is in a precarious position. As a federally funded program, there are changes that can, or that have, taken place in Washington that affect the program on a national level. According to a Washington Post story, in 2017 the current administration proposed an almost $200 million cut to TRIO and GEAR UP, a Clinton-era program. Additionally, Beggs said there are over 1,000 programs nationwide vying for funding. This offers no certainty in the program’s ability to continue offering services.
Beggs said losing TRIO at UCM would be terrible for the campus community and for the students who can and who have benefited from the program.
“If TRIO left UCM, a program that has served the campus for over 40 years, helped hundreds of students who were the first in their families earn bachelor’s degrees, end the cycle of poverty, and find new abilities and opportunities, (it) would leave a void that would be difficult to express,” he said.
Editor’s Note: This version of the story corrects the spelling for Lacey Hites.
