Arkansas TRIO Day will Include Day of Service and Celebration Saturday
JONESBORO – Students and graduates from Arkansas TRIO will participate in the 2024 National TRIO Day of Service to express appreciation to the community for its support. For millions of students from low-income families who strive to be the first in their families to attend and graduate from college, seven federally funded programs called TRIO are making a world of difference
This year's theme is “Ignite, Inspire and Empower!” Arkansas TRIO Day will be held at Arkansas State University Saturday, March 2, according to Jerrod Lockhart, project director for Student Support Services at A-State.
This year's events include a celebration of 24 inductees into the Hall of Fame. There will be breakout sessions for pre-college, college, and adult learners as well as a student panel.
Unlike student financial aid programs, which help students overcome financial hurdles to higher education, the TRIO programs recognize the importance of overcoming all barriers to success. For more than 50 years, they have been providing valuable supportive services to help first-generation students and students from low-income families, veterans, and students with disabilities enter and graduate from college.
Today more than 1,000 colleges, universities and community agencies host more than 2,800 TRIO projects that serve more than 880,000 young people and adults. TRIO serves students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Currently, 34% of TRIO students are White, 33% are African American, 21% are Hispanic, 4% are Asian-American or Pacific Islander, 4% are American Indian, and 1% are listed as “other.”
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 students from middle school through post-graduate study, TRIO provides academic tutoring, personal counseling, mentoring, financial guidance, and other support necessary to promote college access, retention, and graduation. TRIO students come from families that earn less than $38,000 a year and/or in which neither parent has earned a college degree.
