(Carson, CA) California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) has received two U.S. Department of Education (DOE) grants totaling $2.4 million for the TRIO Student Support Services program to provide low-income and military veteran students the services and coaching they need to excel at CSUDH.
Student Support Services (SSS) is one of the eight federal “TRIO” programs that help support low-income and first-generation college students, and those with disabilities succeed in higher education. The DOE grants will help CSUDH’s SSS program provide an array of comprehensive services, including academic tutoring, financial aid advice, career and college mentoring, and assist students to graduate with the lowest possible debt.
The SSS program design for both DOE grants will focus on utilizing project advisers to provide effective individualized student coaching to boost student retention. The advisers will serve as “academic coaches” and be assigned a specific caseload of students to contact on a regular basis to aid them in developing a clear vision of their goals, to guide them in connecting daily activities to their long-term goals, and to support them in building time management, self-advocacy, and study skills.
“We are extremely excited about the opportunity to deepen our impact on the students connected to this funding. Student Support Services are some of the most successful TRIO initiatives offered by the US Department of Education,” said William Franklin, vice president for Student Affairs at CSUDH. “Even though the grants are extremely competitive, our campus has been quite successful, and I really want to thank Brett Waterfield for his partnership in vying for these awards.”
Student Veteran Support
One of the two grants was written exclusively for students participating in the SSS-Veterans project in CSUDH’s Veterans Resource Center. The center will use this $1 million grant to increase retention and graduation rates among student veterans, and to help improve their financial and economic knowledge.
SSS-Veterans offers academic tutoring, advice, and assistance in postsecondary course selection, information on federal student aid programs, and resources for locating scholarships. Additional assistance will be provided in completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs education benefits applications.
Other activities are designed to assist veterans in applying for admission to and obtaining financial assistance for graduate and professional programs.
As a first-generation college student, TRIO programs hold “a very special place” for Franklin. “I credit TRIO for helping me prepare and qualify for college. As a result, my team knows I can be quite intense when TRIO competitions come around,” he shared. “Over the last decade, the campus has received well over $25 million to work with middle and high school students and with CSUDH students. The funding has helped a countless number of first-generation scholars succeed in college and advance in their careers and graduate school. Now that’s paying it forward!”
