For Immediate Release
August 31, 2010

Cañada Receives $1.2 Million Federal Grant to Help Disadvantaged Students

The money will fund the college's highly successful TRiO Program.

Disadvantaged students at Cañada College will receive a boost from the federal government thanks to a $1.2 million grant to fund the TRiO Student Support Services Program at the college.

TRiO–SSS is a program funded by the United States Department of Education. It provides an academic, social and personal support system for first-generation college students; students with physical or learning disabilities; and low-income students. It offers instruction in study skills, tutoring services, academic counseling, guidance on career options, assistance in securing admission and financial aid for enrollment in four-year colleges and universities, mentorship, and overall support. The goal is to assist students with the basic college requirements and to motivate them to complete their college education.

The TRiO-SSS Program has existed at Cañada for the past five years, helping hundreds of students earn a college degree. According to data provided to the federal government by the college, 81 percent of the students participating in TRiO in 2008-09 remained in school and 86 percent remained in good academic standing. TRiO students have transferred to various four-year universities such as San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Cornell University, and Notre Dame De Namur University. "Student Support Services is an excellent opportunity for our students to receive support for their academic goals," said Robin Richards, vice president of student services at Cañada. "We have an outstanding staff and we are very excited about the renewal of the program for the next five years."

TRiO includes eight programs targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs. Cañada College hosts two of the Federal TRiO programs, Student Support Services and Upward Bound. TRiO-SSS began at Cañada College in Fall 2005 and was led during most of that time by Romeo Garcia, who has returned as the Interim Director leading into the new grant period.

“I am ecstatic that our TRiO-SSS program can continue to cultivate student motivation and academic success,” said Romeo Garcia, the program's director at the college for the past five years. “It is an exciting time for our participants, TRiO staff, and our campus community as we prepare more Cañada College students to fully realize their potential.”

Garcia said the objectives of TRiO-SSS are to increase the retention and graduation rates of its students and to foster a supportive institutional climate for them. Holistic services include academic counseling, tutoring, financial aid and literacy, career guidance, personal counseling, mentoring, time management, study skills, peer support, leadership development, and service learning.

TRiO participant Brianna Ramirez affirms that “TRiO has helped me to see the variety in academic choices. It motivates me to transfer, and I appreciate the academic counseling and support that the program provides for me and our TRiO community.”

 

For more information, contact Robert Hood, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, at hoodr@smccd.edu or 306-3340