The Independent
The Dixie State University TRiO Student Support Services program recently received a $1.5 million federal grant that will make it possible for the program to continue to serve students in need for the next five years.
The program, which has been a part of Dixie State University for over three decades, offers assistance to students who are the first in their families to attend college, have low incomes, or have documented disabilities. The TRiO Student Support Services program helps these students successfully earn associate degrees.
TRiO Student Support Services provides participating students with free ongoing assistance, helping them to grow personally, socially, and academically. The program teaches student participants self-direction, resourcefulness, and resiliency through one-on-one advising focused on academic skill development and personal enrichment. Through their involvement in the program, participants become successful students and college graduates who are prepared to be hired as competent professionals.
Advisers for the TRiO Student Support Services program meet with students every semester to assess and help develop educational plans, review their academic progress, and provide academic and moral support. They also arrange academic tutoring and work with the University’s Financial Aid office to ensure that participants have been offered sufficient aid.
The grant will provide adequate funding for TRiO Student Support Services to assist 200 students each year. Jonathan Morrell, who has been the director of the program since 1997, applied for the grant in January and learned last week that DSU had been awarded one of the highly sought-after grants. Applications are scored on a scale from 1 to 100, and in order to receive a new grant, schools had to score 106, meaning that qualifying institutions are required to go above and beyond the set criteria and score extra points in order to receive funding.
For more information about the TRiO Student Support Services program at Dixie State University, visit new.dixie.edu/trio/index.php.
