Lake Land College TRIO SSS Program Receives Increase in Funding

The Lake Land College TRIO Student Support Services program recently received a four percent increase in funding. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, TRIO supports students in need to help them complete their academic goals, graduate from Lake Land College and transfer to a four-year college. This increase in funding provides valuable support to help TRIO continually offer and expand these services.

“TRIO SSS is a support system for students to ensure success as they progress through their education at Lake Land. We help them with all aspects of life while they are attending LLC, such as financial resources, tutoring, community resources, and much more. Students are often unsure about their major and their future, so we provide a welcoming environment to help them navigate this journey,” Lori Ohnesorge, Director of TRIO Programs, said. “We are here to help students be successful from one semester to the next until they successfully graduate or transfer to a four-year institution. This is a program that would have been very helpful to me when I was a Lake Land College student years ago.”

The purpose of the TRIO Student Support Services program is to provide holistic support services to college students to increase student retention and graduation rates, facilitate their transfer from two-year to four-year colleges, and foster an institutional climate supportive of the success of students. To accomplish this mission, TRIO provides academic, social, and cultural support, increases retention and graduation rates, assists students in the admissions process and completion of all necessary forms, develops relationships with external and internal entities to provide referrals and collaborative services and assists in developing short and long term goals for each academic semester based on students’ needs.

Counselors and advisors work with each student individually, providing and connecting students with a wide variety of support services, events and activities. TRIO provides one-on-one meetings with advisors, informative workshops and access to educational, social and cultural opportunities and trips, available only to TRIO participants. All TRIO services are free to all TRIO participants.

There is an eligibility process for TRIO Student Support Services, and eligibility surveys are available LLC’s website, the student Hub and in the TRIO office.

More information can be located on the Lake Land College website at lakelandcollege.edu/trio-student-support-services or by calling or texting 217-234-5456. For further questions, please contact triosss@lakelandcollege.edu.