Breaking Down Barriers to Higher Education: TRIO Programs
Higher education was not made for everyone. When
institutions of higher learning began, they were exclusive to White rich men of
elite families. This system allowed social class walls to be built even
stronger and taller, keeping the “haves” and the “have-nots” distinctly
separate, and the same can be said about the walls between gender and racial
groups. Segregation, poverty, elitism, and gender bias were, and still are, prevalent
realities in our society. This history and the history of higher education in
America cannot be ignored because it continues to impact the youth of the 21st century.
Although the doors of post-secondary institutions have been opened to allow all
types individuals, the past exclusive traditions and lack of accessibility has
maintained the exclusive nature of higher education institutions.
The government is not blind to these issues or
to the fact that education is a valued resource in society and is a key way to
socio-economic mobility. In the 1960’s, the Johnson Administration focused in
on this, placing high importance on higher education. As a part of President
Johnson’s “War on Poverty”, he enacted the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 in
an attempt to expand economic opportunity and decrease the level of poverty in
America (Cooley, 2018). The act states, “It is, therefore, the policy of the
United States to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in
this Nation by opening to everyone the opportunity for education and training”
(Economic Opportunity Act of 1964). A key piece of this legislation
authorized appropriations of federally funded grants for programs that
motivated and prepared low-income youth for post-secondary education; from this
emerged the beginning of Federal TRIO Programs (TRIO). Upward Bound was the
first program of what would become TRIO, a network of eight federally funded
grant programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). TRIO
focuses on assisting low-income, first-generation college students, or students
with disabilities navigate the educational pipeline through to post-secondary
education. The eight programs include: Educational
Opportunity Centers, Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement, Student
Support Services (SSS), Talent Search, TRIO Staff Training, Upward Bound,
Upward Bound Math-Science, and Veterans Upward Bound.
TRIO continues to be an impactful pathway to
higher education attainment by guiding youth to educational opportunities they
would not have otherwise seen as a possibility because of their familial
background. The
program has grown from three original programs to eight programs hosted at
almost 3,000 sites, expanding the number of disadvantaged students served and
increasing access to higher education by making higher education more
attainable.
The positive impact TRIO has made on the lives
of traditionally disadvantaged students can be seen through both numerical
quantitative data as well as qualitative stories from participants. The U.S.
Department of education releases a number of reports detailing the outcomes
from all eight programs. Each recipient of a TRIO grant is mandated to report
their program outcomes to the U.S. Department of Education through an Annual
Performance Report (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). In the Fast Facts
Report for the Talent Search Program (2016a), one of the outcomes reported was
post-secondary enrollment of program participants. In 2013-2014, 80% of
college-ready Talent Search participants severed by four-year institution
grantees enrolled in post-secondary education (U.S. Department of Education,
2016a, p. 14). This was also similar in the 2013-2014 cohort of participants in
Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math-Science Programs. The outcome report
released in 2016 for these programs report 86% of graduating participants
enrolled immediately in a post-secondary program (U.S. Department of Education,
2016b).
Although
quantitative measures show positive outcomes, some can say the most powerful
evidence of the impact of TRIO are the narratives from past and current
participants. Many individuals who were a part of one (or more) of the eight
TRIO programs express their gratitude for the program. A report released by the
U.S. Department of Education featured past program participants in a section labeled
“Voices from the Field”. In this, individuals share their narratives and are
quoted saying, “Honestly, I don’t think I would be
where I am today without the TRIO [McNair] program”; “It wasn’t until I
participated in a TRIO [SSS] campus visit that I really opened myself up to the
possibility of continuing my education”; “I’m a first-generation college
student… [Talent Search] guided me when no one else could”; among other
powerful statements that reveals TRIO’s positive impact (U.S. Department of
Education, n.d., pp. 29-31). These narratives reveal the first-hand accounts of
the impact this legislation makes on the lives of the students it aims to
serve.
These program
outcomes and participant experiences shows that Federal TRIO Programs are
effective in achieving its goal of aiding disadvantaged student to enroll in
post-secondary educational opportunities. Simply put, TRIO works. This is known
and will hopefully come into play as the HEA is up for reauthorization. The HEA
has not been reauthorized since 2008 even though it is supposed to be
reauthorized every five-years. Looking forward, House Democrats have proposed the
Aim Higher Act (H.R. 6453), which proposes an increase of funding for programs
such as TRIO. It will be up to the 116th congress to determine if
TRIO’s impact has the opportunity grow or remains stagnant.
For more
information about TRIO, visit https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html
Sources:
American
Council on Education. (2019). Higher Education Act: HEA reauthorization.
Retrieved from
https://www.acenet.edu/Pages/Renewing-the-Higher-Education-Act.aspx
https://www.acenet.edu/Pages/Renewing-the-Higher-Education-Act.aspx
Cooley, A.
(2018). War on poverty: United States History In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/War-on-Poverty
https://www.britannica.com/topic/War-on-Poverty
Economic
Opportunity Act of 1964, Pub. L. 88-452, 78 Stat. 508
Higher Education Act of 1965, Pub. L. 89-329, 79 Stat. 1235, codified as
amended at 20 U.S. Code § 1070a-11
Groutt, J. (2003). Milestones of TRIO
history, part 1. The Journal of the
Council for Opportunity
McCants, J. (2003). Do you know TRIO? A
TRIO history factsheet [PDF file]. Retrieved
from http://www.pellinstitute.org/downloads/trio_clearinghouse-The_Early_History_of_the_HEA_of_1965.pdf
from http://www.pellinstitute.org/downloads/trio_clearinghouse-The_Early_History_of_the_HEA_of_1965.pdf
National Center for Education Statistics.
(2018). [Interactive Map] TRIO’s footprint in 2017-18: Project sites
throughout the
U.S. and Outlying Territories. Retrieved from https://ope.ed.gov/programs/maped/storymaps/trio/
U.S. and Outlying Territories. Retrieved from https://ope.ed.gov/programs/maped/storymaps/trio/
U.S.
Department of Education. (2016a). Fast Facts Report for the Talent Search
Program [PDF File].
Retrieved from
https://www2.ed.gov/programs/triotalent/ts-fastfacts2016.pdf
https://www2.ed.gov/programs/triotalent/ts-fastfacts2016.pdf
U.S.
Department of Education. (2011). History of the Federal TRIO Programs.
Retrieved
from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/triohistory.html
from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/triohistory.html
U.S.
Department of Education. (2019). Federal TRIO Programs- Home page Retrieved
from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html
from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html
U.S.
Department of Education. (2016b). Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math-Science programs:
Postsecondary
outcomes report [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/ub-ubms-outcomes2016.pdf
outcomes report [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/ub-ubms-outcomes2016.pdf
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