El Centro College TRIO Student Support Services Program

Mission statement:

The TRIO Program: We are empowering first generation, low income students and students with disabilities to be successful students, to graduate from El Centro College, and to transfer to a bachelor’s degree program.

TRIO Program Objectives

Identification and Selection

Objective #1: Identify, screen, and select 165 students with academic need who are low income, first generation college students and/or individuals with disabilities such that at any given time 2/3 are both low income & first generation and 1/3 of those with disabilities are also low income.

Retention, Graduation and Transfer

Objective # 2: 60% of each cohort who do not graduate or transfer will be retained from one fall semester to the following fall semester.
Objective # 3: 40% of each cohort will graduate with an associate’s degree within seven semesters of entering El Centro College.
Objective # 4: 35% of each cohort will transfer into a bachelor’s degree program upon or before completion of an associate’s degree.

Financial Aid

Objective # 5: 100% of eligible project participants will receive assistance in applying for federal financial aid and other forms of grant/scholarship aid.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Objective # 6: 80% of project participants will maintain a GPA of 2.0 or above and remain in good academic standing.

Improving Campus Climate

Objective # 7: Two workshops per year will be offered to faculty and staff addressing issues related to working with first generation, low income students and students with disabilities. Two campus wide events will be hosted by TRIO addressing the goals and successes of TRIO.
Objective # 8: An advisory board made up of administrators, students, faculty and staff will be organized and will meet twice a year to assist the director in reviewing services and addressing campus climate issues.

Technology and Education

Objective #9: All students will receive assistance in setting up an e-mail account .