Student success through Community Engagement

University of Minnesota: TRIO

Program characteristics

TRIO is a set of federally-funded outreach and student services programs that support students from disadvantaged backgrounds (low-income, first generation, disabilities) as they progress from middle school through college (Office of Postsecondary Education, 2016). The University of Minnesota TRIO programs are located within the University’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). UMN TRIO programs provide advising, academic support, mentoring, and advocacy as a means to increase retention and graduation rates (College of Education and Human Development, 2016). 

Audience served

Grounded in the civil rights movement, UMN TRIO programs in the CEHD strive to ensure equal opportunity and equitable access to higher education along the educational continuum for underrepresented students, specifically those who are low income, first generation, and have disabilities.

Primary program components

TRIO Student Support Services (SSS); TRIO Ronald E. McNair Program; TRIO Upward Bound. 

Focus: TRIO Student Support Services (SSS)

  • Part of the President’s Emerging Scholars (PES) Program
  • Selects 150 new freshmen each fall to participate in a multidimensional program that provides a variety of comprehensive and supplemental academic and educational support. 
  • TRIO SSS provides advising, financial aid counseling, personal support, and help with academic planning, major, and career exploration for low-to-moderate income, first-generation, and special-needs students. 
  • The program includes College English Transitions, a first-year sequence of courses offered to freshmen for whom English is not their first language. 

Research questions

  • Examining the role of community involvement as addressed by the program and sense of belonging and engagement with longer term retention and graduation.  
  • Is this program available to underrepresented students?
    • Yes, the program is only available to underrepresented students.
    • Underrepresented is defined as: low income, first generation, disabilities, and racial/ethnic minorities.