The TRIO program celebrated its 25th anniversary at Tyler Junior College this fall. First established at TJC in 1997, TRIO continues to offer their services to students in need.
The program is designed to allow students access to resources to help them have a successful college experience. The TRIO program works with low-income first-generation students and students with disabilities.
The TRIO program offers a variety of free benefits to students such as color printing, personal success coaching and priority registration. TRIO is for low-income, first-generation and/or disabled students.
“TRIO is a very, very incredible program. TRIO is pretty much the beginning to those who don’t know anything about college, and it’s the foundation that everybody that’s coming into college should have,” TJC Alumni Aziel Espinoza said. “TRIO helps them understand: ‘How does the college world work and how does academia work?’ and help them in their future careers.”
As a Student Support Program, TRIO’s benefits include access to a computer lab, free printing and access to various academic coaches. “They have a computer lab, free printing. They have access to a success coach, career coach and transfer coach. Free tutoring, professional tutoring in English and Mathematics, then extended time [in the] tutoring center for all other subject matter,” Director of TRIO programs Brad Grifford said.
“We take students off campus to 4-year institutions to allow them to get exposure for transferring purposes. And then we assist with scholarship searching, application completions to transfer and just you know, here to help them be successful.”
Alongside Student Support Services, TRIO also offers a secondary program called TRIO Educational Opportunity Center.
“We do have a secondary TRIO program called TRIO Educational Opportunity Center,” Grifford said. “It was funded for the first time in 2016 and it is a community-based grant that helps [a] nontraditional age population enter post-secondary education, so we provide resources to over 1,000 students a year in this program, and its main goal is to help students get into post-secondary [education].”
For those looking for TRIO support services must qualify according to guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Education.
“Anywhere from sending emails, giving phone calls or just walking into the office and just directly come into [contact with] any TRIO personnel, and they’d be more than glad to help you,” Espinoza said.
For more information, go to TJC.edu/TRIO or visit the TRIO offices on the third Floor of Rogers Student Center.
