Carl Sandburg College’s TRIO Student Support Services program has been awarded a new five-year grant cycle worth $1.3 million to serve Sandburg students. Sandburg has hosted the SSS program for 23 years and was one of 52 grant recipients from Illinois through funds from the US Department of Education. The TRIO SSS program helps students stay in school, graduate from Sandburg, and transfer to a four-year university. Grant recipients must compete every five years for refunding. During that time, the program must meet performance objectives for graduation and transfer rates, student retention in the program, and students in good academic standing. Ninety-three percent of program participants finished in good academic standing finishing well above performance goals. Students also had an 86 percent persistence rate, 61 percent graduation rate, and 41 percent transferred with an associate degree from Sandburg. Sandburg will receive $261,888 per year to serve 140 students annually on its Main Campus in Galesburg.
