The TRiO Upward Bound program at OCCC received grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

According to a press release on the OCCC website, TRiO will receive $310,622 per year for five years to supplement 75 students, which comes to a total of $4,141.62 per student per year.

TRiO Program Director Karolyn Chowning said most of the money from the grant goes to pay staff salaries and materials, though some is used for activities such as weekly tutoring, twice-monthly workshops, museums and cultural activities.

Chowning said the Upward Bound students are in grade nine through twelve.

“It’s to help encourage high school students to want to go to college; to encourage them,” she said.

The TRiO programs are run by federal grants, so it’s very competitive, Chowning said.

“Two hundred and thirty programs across the nation didn’t get funding for the next five years,” she said.

To contact Robert Bolton, email onlinewriter@occc.edu.