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TRIO Program Case Study

Satisfactory Essays

Discussion One of the interview questions for the coordinators asked for their definition of a successful TRIO Program. Both answers revolved around the idea of making TRIO services available for those students who at risk of falling through the cracks. Considering that TRIO participants are primarily first-generation students, both coordinators expressed the need to provide guidance at every stage of the students’ education. The goal of TRIO in one of the coordinators’ words, is to “provide the students with resources that they don’t already have… it’s just a matter of reaching into that population that isn’t taken into account because they are not exceling and are not an A+ student”. For those students who seek out for help, whether it …show more content…

• What are the barriers perceived by first-generation students?
• What strategies were perceived as effective in overcoming barriers by first-generation students? It is important to learn about the specific struggles for this population if we wish to provide them with more effective services. One of the areas the coordinators did not mention as part of their definition of success was meeting their grant requirement. As stated before, TRIO programs are federally funded by the department of education. Funding is provided with the condition of meeting specific annual goals. This is how the agency who grants the funding determines the success of the program. Every program is required to graduate and enroll a specific number of participants each year however, there is a risk when programs take in a large number of participants who are struggling academically. If the students fail to enroll in a higher learning institution or even graduate from high school, it may hinder the program and their chances of getting their funding renewed for future academic years as numbers will reflect that participants are not succeeding. The question then becomes, should programs aim to help low performance students or should they target eligible students who are already exceling academically in order to retain

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