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September 8, 2010
North Hennepin Community College’s Student Support Services/TRIO (SSS/TRIO) is a federally funded program through the United States Department of Education (DOEd) that provides free academic support to college students who are either first generation (neither parent has a bachelor’s degree), low income, or have a documented disability. The goal of the program is to increase the college retention, transfer, and graduation rates of its participants. It provides academic support services such as academic advising, degree planning, tutoring, financial aid counseling, study skills assistance, and career exploration.
North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) has had a successful SSS/TRIO program in place for its students since 1991. Fortunately for SSS/TRIO students at NHCC, the DOEd approved funding of over $1.8 million to serve 230 students each year over the next 5 years. Other Minnesota institutions were not renewed this year. The budgets for TRIO programs are determined by the federal congressional appropriations process each year. Over the past five years, the TRIO Programs have been flat funded. Nationally, the SSS program will lose nearly 40 awards. This translates into approximately 24,000 students who will lose these much needed services.
Shelly Siegel, NHCC’s Director of TRIO Programs, mentions, “The grant application is a rigorous process that takes months to prepare. It is submitted to the DOEd and then scored by a panel of peer reviewers. In addition, the DOEd reviews annual reports which demonstrate the program’s progress toward meeting its set goals and objectives on student persistence, academic standing, and graduation/transfer rates. NHCC exceeded each of their goals and received an overall score of 113/115 – a tremendous feat!”
Between 2006 and 2009, North Hennepin had an 84% persistence rate of SSS/TRIO students enrolling from one year to the next (exceeding the goal by 34%); 86% of NHCC SSS/TRIO students were in good academic standing (exceeding the goal by 26%); and 38% earned an associate degree or transferred to a four-year college or university within three years (exceeding the goal by 8%).
For more information about NHCC’s SSS/TRIO program, visit www.nhcc.edu/sss.
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