The Kilgore College TRIO Student Support Services program (SSS), Upward Bound program (UB) and the Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) will celebrate National TRIO Day on Friday, Feb. 28.
The cities of Longview and Kilgore will also officially recognize Feb. 28, 2025, as National TRIO Day, honoring the impact of TRIO programs in empowering students and fostering educational success.
For millions of students from low-income families who strive to be the first in their families to attend and graduate from college, eight federally funded programs called TRIO are making a world of difference. KC currently has three TRIO programs annually serving approximately 1,200 students from different populations in the Northeast Texas area.
The program, first introduced in 1968 under the Higher Education Act, was named TRIO because it consisted of three programs: Upward Bound, Talent Search and Student Support Services. Serving U.S. citizens and permanent residents, TRIO now includes eight programs targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs. TRIO also includes a training program for directors and staff of TRIO projects.
In its 19th year at KC, the TRIO Student Support Services program was awarded a $1.37 million federal grant in 2020 to continue its services through the year 2025.
Since 2001, the TRIO SSS program at KC has helped almost 2,200students with their educational needs. TRIO SSS annually serves 160 students enrolled at KC.
The KC Upward Bound pre-college program is in its 18th year and services 50 students each year from Kilgore High School, Longview High School and Pine Tree High School.
In 2022, the UB Program at KC was awarded a $1.48 million federal grant to continue services through 2027.
KC was awarded a $1.2 million federal grant in 2021 to establish an Educational Opportunity Center, with funding through 2026. The EOC annually serves 850 potential and current college students with college admissions and enrollment processes.
For more information on KC’s TRIO SSS program, contact assistant director Heidi Everett at (903) 988-7592, heverett@kilgore.edu or visit www.kilgore.edu/trio.
For more information on KC Upward Bound, contact UB director Rebekah Metcalf at (903) 988-3760, rmetcalf@kilgore.edu or visit www.kilgore.edu/upward-bound.
For more information on KC’s Educational Opportunity Center, contact EOC director Rosa Hopkins at (903) 983-8615, rhopkins@kilgore.edu or visit www.kilgore.edu/eoc.
What is TRIO?
TRIO is a set of federally-funded college–based educational opportunity outreach programs that motivate and support students from low-income backgrounds – including military veterans and students with disabilities. Currently serving more than 870,000 students from middle school through post-graduate study, TRIO provides academic tutoring, personal counseling, mentoring, financial guidance, and other supports necessary to promote college access, retention, and graduation. TRIO students come from families that meet federal income guidelines and/or in which neither parent has earned a college degree. Participants must be U.S. citizens or have permanent resident status.
Where did TRIO come from?
The TRIO programs were the first national college access and retention programs to address the serious social and cultural barriers to education in America. (Previously only college financing had been on policymakers’ radar.) The Educational Opportunity Act of 1964 established an experimental program known as Upward Bound. Then, in 1965, the Higher Education Act created Talent Search. Finally, another program, Special Services for Disadvantaged Students (later known as Student Support Services), was launched in 1968. Together, this “trio” of federally-funded programs encouraged access to higher education for low-income students.
By 1998, the TRIO programs had become a vital pipeline to opportunity, serving traditional students, displaced workers, and veterans. The original three programs have grown to eight, adding Educational Opportunity Centers in 1972, Training Program for Federal TRIO programs in 1976, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program in 1986, Upward Bound Math/Science in 1990, and Veterans Upward Bound in 1972.
Why Are the TRIO Programs Important?
The TRIO programs help first-generation, low-income students overcome social, cultural, and academic barriers to succeed in higher education. By providing direct services and individually focused and intensive programming geared towards helping students navigate the college admissions and financial aid process, TRIO programs assist students in overcoming the obstacles they face as the first in their families to attend and graduate from college. Today, an estimated 6 million students have graduated from college with the support and assistance of TRIO programs across the country.