Freel Library - Lower Level

The TRiO Program at MCLA
Student Support Services: The Individual Enrichment Program

Federal TRiO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRiO includes six outreach and support programs targeted to serve and assist low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline. The term TRiO derives from the three original federal programs, Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Student Support Services. Since then, five more TRiO programs have been established: Ronald McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement, Educational Opportunity Centers, Upward Bound Math Science, Training Program for Federal TRiO Programs, and Dissemination Partnership Program.

Recognizing the increasingly important role of educational opportunity in raising the socioeconomic level of students with talent and promise, Congress proclaimed the first National TRiO Day in 1986, the 20th anniversary of the Higher Education Act, which authorized the original TRiO Programs. Two Massachusetts Congressmen, the late Silvio O. Conte and Senator John Kerry, were among the co-sponsors of the National TRiO Day legislation.

MCLA's TRiO Program, Student Support Services, established in 1980, is known as the Individual Enrichment Program, which has provided basic skills instruction, counseling, tutoring, cultural enrichment, and career and financial aid information to approximately 200 students a year. Students served by the Individual Enrichment Program are primarily first-generation college attendees, economically disadvantaged, or disabled. These students are identified by high school counselors as having potential for success in college.

A unique component of the Individual Enrichment Program is its transitional Summer Seminar. This compressed semester enables students to hone their academic skills in a structured environment in preparation for the expectations of college. At the same time, it provides opportunities for cultural enrichment and acclimatization to campus residential life. The Summer Seminar provides students with a valuable "head start," both academically and socially, to the college experience. With help from a team of dedicated professionals and peer tutor counselors, incoming freshmen develop the skills necessary to be successful in college. Statistics indicate that Student Support Services recipients are twice as likely to remain in college than those without intervention and are retained through graduation at a higher rate than most average non-risk students.

For several hundred MCLA graduates, the Individual Enrichment Program has been a pathway to success in business, academia, law, theater, communications, and the helping professions.