TRIO: helping students succeed
Monday, September 28, 2009
At the beginning of an orientation last Friday, Lynn Groshong asks those in attendance what they think the TRIO center offers students. The students say it is a place to “relax” and “be themselves.” They say it is a place where they can get help and become successful students.
Groshong, a retention specialist at TRIO, agrees with these points and says that the best way to describe TRIO is as a “one-stop mentoring center.”
The TRIO program, which offers student support services at both the Albany and Lebanon campuses, is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and offers students a variety of services, including workshops, student mentoring, tutoring, help with transfers, financial aid and scholarship information, career and transfer counseling services, and visitations to some of Oregon’s four-year colleges.
“Our goal is to remove barriers to higher education by assisting students with all aspects of the college process,” states TRIO’s Web page.
To qualify for the program, which is in its fifth year at LBCC, students must meet one of three criteria: being a first generation college student, meeting federal guidelines for low-income households, or having a documented physical or learning disability. The program currently has a cap of 160 students.
At the orientation, Groshong offers advice to the students. She tells them that they can speak with TRIO counselors before dropping and adding classes. She tells them about TRIO’s textbook library and that one textbook, if available, will be provided to each enrolled student per term—a savings that can total hundreds of dollars according to Groshong. She tells them that students need the program and that the program needs students.
“In order for us to continue to get our grants, we have to meet certain benchmarks. We have to have so many students who graduate. We have to have a certain percentage of students who transfer to four-year schools,” Groshong said.
Each student in TRIO meets with a TRIO advisor and completes a personal success plan—a facet that Groshong calls the “core” of the program. The plans, which are created by the students, help them recognize specific academic goals and a path by which to accomplish those goals.
“We will do anything we can to help you,” Groshong said. “If anything, when you have a question, come and ask … we don’t know all the answers but we do know where to find them, and we will try very hard to do that. That is really what we are all about.”
For more information contact the Albany TRIO center at (541) 917-4993 or the Lebanon TRIO center at (541) 259-5776.
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