TRIO SSS grant renewed at RLC for $1.3 million over 5 years

INA, Ill. (Aug. 5, 2015) - Last month, Rend Lake College’s TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) grant was approved for the next five years. The competitive grant is funded by the U.S. Department of Education at $267,134 each year, for a total of $1,335,670.

The SSS grant funds RLC’s STARS (Student Transfer and Retention Support) Program, which came to campus in 1997 to provide outreach and a variety of services for income-eligible, first-generation students and students with disabilities. The RLC campus is also home to the TRIO Upward Bound program for high school students.

“This grant is a testament to Leah Stallman [TRIO Director] and her staff for the hard work they’ve done and will continue to do to serve Rend Lake College’s students and promote the future of their education,” said President Terry Wilkerson.

Stallman said she received word about the funding from Senator Dick Durbin’s office on July 16. She added her staff worked over a year gathering data to prepare for the competitive SSS grant to show the program’s future plans to support and help students become academically successful.

“We are so very pleased to receive funding from the Department of Education to continue to provide services for students at RLC through the Student Support Services grant,” said Stallman. “These services are crucial in helping our students to succeed in college and are especially valuable in an area like ours where unemployment is high and many students come from income-eligible, first-generation backgrounds and might not have the resources available to achieve academic success.”

Some of the student services the STARS program provides to students include individualized academic advisement, tutoring services, workshops on various subjects, university campus visits, and cultural events. The RLC staff also work with students who have barriers to overcome in their personal lives to be successful in college.

“We have an open-door policy. Any students who are interested can get an application online or stop by and see us in the South Oasis,” said Stallman. “We have advisors available to talk about the program and we accept applications year-round.”

To enter into the program, students must meet at least one of the following requirements: be income-eligible; be a first-generation student, which means neither parent has a four-year degree; or be disabled.

“STARS is an excellent support for our students and we’re lucky to have it on campus,” said Lisa Price, Vice President of Student Services. “Many of our students come to us being first-generation college students, and because these students have not had the educational background in their families, they often do not know or understand how to navigate the college waters. Our STARS program assists these students in finding their way through RLC and then on to their next educational step.”

Altogether, the U.S. Department of Education is awarding $270 million to 968 institutions through the SSS grant. SSS is one of seven Federal TRIO Programs to help students be successful from middle school through post baccalaureate programs.

To learn more about RLC’s TRIO programs, contact Leah Stallman at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1366 or stallmanl@rlc.edu. Both the STARS and Upward Bound programs are located in the South Oasis on the Ina campus.