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Spring conference focuses on strengthening state TRiO programs

By Carole Engblom
April 12, 2005

On April 14 and 15, St. Olaf College will host educators, staffers, parents and students affiliated with TRiO programs throughout the state of Minnesota. The two-day Minnesota Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (MnAEOPP) conference will focus on strengthening existing programs as well as developing institutional and statewide marketing plans to increase the visibility of TRiO. Nearly 150 St. Olaf College TRiO students will participate in the conference.

MnAEOPP is one of eight state chapters which form the Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (MAEOPP) In addition to Minnesota, MAEOPP's member states include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin. Nationally, more than 3,000 TRiO programs service two million students; 20,000 of these students are in Minnesota.

In 1965, the United States Congress established a series of programs designed to help low-income students enter college, graduate and move on to participate more fully in America's economic and social life. These federally funded pre-college programs, begun by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the "war on poverty," were referred to as the TRiO Programs (Educational Talent Search, Upward Bound and Student Support Services).

Since 1989, the Education Department at St. Olaf College has sponsored the TRiO programs and, since 1999, the GEAR UP! program started by President Bill Clinton with the similar goal of helping students overcome class, social and cultural barriers to higher education.

When the Bush administration threatened to eliminate the TRiO programs from its federal budget, St. Olaf, with dozens of other colleges and high schools, took immediate action. St. Olaf junior Jonathan Tischler represented the Minnesota TRiO chapter at the 2005 National Council for Opportunity in Education Policy Seminar, traveling to Washington, D.C. in mid-March where he met with congressional representatives to discuss the importance of the federally funded TRiO programs.

On March 17th, the Senate voted to restore $2.7 billion in higher education funding above the level included in President Bush's budget. This is sufficient to provide a several hundred dollar increase in the Pell Grant, and sufficient to restore funding for TRiO and GEAR UP. All the Democrats and six Republicans (including Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman) voted (51-49) for the amendment introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Tischler, St. Olaf junior Lily Moua and Melissa Hinderscheit '04 recently testified at a press conference called by Minnesota State Senator Sandra Pappas (DFL) in favor of continued funding for TRiO programs.

The Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search programs at St. Olaf College have demonstrated their effectiveness. The Upward Bound, directed by Heather Campbell, program serves 87 students annually in St. Paul and Red Wing. Ninety-three percent of the graduates of this program go on to postsecondary education.

The college's Educational Talent Search program, under the direction of Janis Johnson, serves 800 students annually at schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Of these students, 80 percent go on to post secondary education. Statewide, only 30 percent of low-income students go on to education after high school, making the numbers of these programs even more astonishing.

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-646-3271 or leigh@stolaf.edu.