The U.S. Department of Education has awarded PennWest California’s TRIO Student Support Services program $338,972 for 2022-2023 academic year. The SSS grant is funded for five-year period from 2020-2025, totaling nearly $1.1 million.

 

Student Support Services is one of the three original TRIO programs authorized in 1968 by the Higher Education Act of 1965. Its goal is to increase the post secondary persistence and graduation rate of income eligible and/or first-generation college students or students with disabilities, and to facilitate these students’ transition from one level of higher education to the next. 

 

In applying for the grant, TRIO Student Support Services director Laura Giachetti demonstrated progress toward the program’s objective of helping students achieve their undergraduate degrees within a six-year time period, and a need for the continuation of these services.

 

SSS serves 175 grant-funded students annually, providing instruction in basic skills, peer support, academic advising, financial aid and career counseling, graduate school counseling and mentoring. TRIO faculty provide academic instruction and additional advising to another 400 students each year.California has offered SSS since 1968.

 

For more information, email TRIOSSS-CAL@pennwest.edu orcall 724-938-4230.