University of Detroit Mercy’s TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) will continue to positively impact students’ college experience thanks to the U.S. Department of Education announcing a renewal of a five-year Student Support Services (SSS) grant of more than $1 million.
“With the COVID-19 global pandemic serving as an added potential hindrance to student access and success, the renewal of the TRIO SSS grant is more important than ever,” Director of TRIO Student Support Services Amber Johnson said. “Student Support Services places a high priority on ensuring that promising students have the resources and support necessary to be successful and complete their degree through a family-oriented environment that is filled with academic support, accountability, exposure and camaraderie.”
Detroit Mercy has had a TRIO SSS program since 2016 and has helped students achieve academic success and completion of their baccalaureate degree.
TRIO SSS provides support to college students who are low-income, first-generation college students or students with disabilities. The grant will help provide academic tutoring, financial aid advice, career and college mentoring, assistance with course selection, locating public and private scholarships, applying for admission to graduate and professional schools, education opportunities to develop financial and economic literacy skills, and other forms of assistance.
“Such services enhance academic success and make it more likely that students will not only graduate, but will complete college with the lowest possible debt,” Johnson said.
TRIO SSS is one of the eight federal TRIO programs authorized by the Higher Education Act to support college student’s success in higher education. The program recognizes that students whose parents do not have a college degree may have more difficulties navigating the complexity of decisions that college requires for success. It bolsters students from low-income families, who have not had the academic opportunities that their college peers have had, and helps students with disabilities remove obstacles preventing them from thriving academically.