Knox College has been awarded a five-year federal grant for its TRIO Achievement Program, which provides individualized support and comprehensive programming to promote students' academic success and personal growth.

The grant, which covers a five-year period starting September 1, allows Knox to continue and enhance the TRIO program. Knox will receive $302,731 during the first year of the grant, and the total five-year amount is projected at more than $1.5 million.

With the grant, Knox's TRIO program will expand to serve 185 students, instead of the 165 served in years past. A new summer academic bridge component also is being added to the program.

Knox is among several colleges and universities selected to receive grants through the U.S. Department of Education for the TRIO Student Support Services Program. The federal TRIO Programs are outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from low-income families, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities.

U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos announced the grant on Wednesday. Bustos represents Illinois' 17th Congressional District, which includes Knox College.

The TRIO program at Knox helps students with all aspects -- personal, financial, academic, and cultural -- of their college experience. The program aims to ensure a positive campus climate for TRIO students, to help them remain in good academic standing, and to assist them with plans for graduate or professional school.

"We are thrilled to be able to continue our work with TRIO students at Knox and look forward to implementing the improvements in the funded grant proposal. It is an exciting time to be working at Knox College with such institutional momentum for supporting first-generation, low-income students and students with disabilities," states Risa Lopez, director of the TRIO Achievement Program.

TRIO offers numerous services at Knox, such as personalized four-year academic planning, professional writing assistance, community-building activities, academic skills development for time management and other topics, and cultural enrichment events.

Knox graduate Norman Golar '02, now an assistant professor and chair of the English department at Stillman College, recalled in a recent Knox Magazine article how he, as a student, worked with TRIO writing coordinator Paul Marasa.

"He tapped into my struggles as a writer -- I thought that complicated writing was necessary. Thankfully, he helped me to rely on my oral communication: 'What are you saying here?' he'd ask," Golar said.

"I now understand Paul's focus on simplicity," Golar added, "as I assist my own students at Stillman to realize that writing derives from their speech, and that elegance derives from continual practice with reading and writing."

Since 2006, the Knox TRIO program's retention rates have exceeded 90 percent, and graduation rates are nearly at that level -- at 87.5 percent. At Knox, TRIO students' retention and graduation rates equal or exceed the rates shown by the overall student body.

TRIO isn't an acronym. Rather, the name refers to the three programs that the federal government established in the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure equal educational opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, ethnic background, or economic circumstance. TRIO has since expanded to include additional programs.

TRIO at Knox launched in the 1974-75 academic year and is celebrating its 40th anniversary. At the national level, TRIO is observing its 50th anniversary.