TRIO program prepares low-income, first-gen students for college

Arizona Western College is giving first-generation students and low-income students a chance to experience college life.

Talent Search and Upward Bound are part of TRIO which is a federally funded program providing services for first-generation and low-income students.

Talent Search is a pre-college program starting in sixth grade through high school.

Target schools written into the grant for Talent Search are Gila Vista, 4th Avenue, Wellton, Parker, Wallace, and Le Pera.

Upward Bound is the program that guides students in high school.

Included schools are Yuma, Cibola, Kofa, San Luis, and Parker.

At AWC, student support services aid college students to achieve success during their collegiate career.

These three programs originated the TRIO name, Upward Bound is the first program created in the 1960’s.

There are now nine TRIO programs available through the McNair program, helping students earn their master’s and/or doctorate.

In addition to learning how to apply for college or fill out financial aid forms, students also get to tour local colleges.

The goal for TRIO is to encourage students to have the desire to enroll in post-secondary education.

For the college level program, they hope to help them complete their associate’s degree and then transfer on to another university to complete their degree.

As part of the Higher Education Act, these support services help people who would not typically have access to higher education.

Events through the program include “Off to College”, which invites 11th and 12th-grade students to attend workshops and scholarship sessions.

According to Michelle Thomas, Director of the TRIO programs, the sooner a student can step on a college campus, it increases their likelihood of pursuing a post-secondary degree.