For students who are the first in their family to go to college, higher education can be a very confusing process. That’s where TRiO comes in.
TRiO is a federally funded program that helps first-generation students by tracing a path to graduation. The program is available to Salt Lake Community College students whose parents did not graduate college with a degree before the student turned 18.
“TRiO has helped me a lot,” says TRiO member Irene Garcia. “I am a first generation college student. My parents could not help me with questions regarding what classes to take and with the process of starting college.”
Garcia graduated high school in 2013 and entered the TRiO program that same summer.
“At the time I started with this this program, TRiO was called Quest,” she says.
Garcia will graduate in spring 2016 with an associate degree in social work. Afterwards, she plans to earn a bachelor’s degree at Weber State University and a master’s degree from the University of Utah.
Garcia is very happy to have started with TRiO right out of high school.
“Without TRiO, I wouldn’t have known what to do,” she says.
How to enter the TRiO program
Student Support Services receives TRiO applications each semester and students are regularly accepted into the program. Some eligibility requirements have to be met before a student can join TRiO.
Services available to TRiO participants include personalized academic planning, financial literacy, tutoring, transfer support and more.
Students who want to get involved with TRiO must complete an application and sign up for an orientation. Admissions are limited so that adequate attention can be provided to each student.
“I highly recommend this program to any student that is interested in joining,” Garcia says. “My [younger] sister Ana also started with Trio in 2014 after she graduated from high school. She wants to become a nurse, she is already taking the required classes.”
For more information about the TRiO program at SLCC, call 801-957-4089 or visit the TRiO office in person at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, room CT-238.
