About Us

Peru State College houses one TRiO program on-campus — Student Success Services (SSS). While the other TRiO programs help students prepare for college or pursue graduate degrees, SSS specifically aids undergraduate college students to persist in their studies and continue to graduation.

Peru State’s SSS project serves approximately 230 students at any given time and is funded at a rate of $330,965 per year. Participants are selected based on federal eligibility criteria.

How to Join

SSS at Peru State College is funded to support 230 students; however, federal regulations specify eligibility criteria to join SSS. The good news though is nearly two-thirds of new, incoming freshmen at Peru State College will meet the individual eligibility criteria. But, to be slightly more specific, the criteria that an individual has to meet are:

1. The applicant must be a US Citizen OR may be a non-US-citizen who is still eligible for federal financial aid.
2. In addition to the previous requirement, an applicant must fulfill AT LEAST ONE of the three criteria below:
   1. The applicant is a first-generation college student. In other words, the applicant’s custodial parent(s) did not possess a Bachelor’s degree before the applicant’s 18th birthday.
   2. The applicant has a physical or learning disability. (However, SSS itself does not verify an applicant’s disability. Instead, the applicant’s disability must be on file with the ADA coordinator at Peru State College).
   3. The applicant’s household meets the federal low-income guidelines established at this link.
3. Satisfying these criteria does not guarantee that an applicant will be accepted to SSS. The good news though is that nearly all applicants to SSS at Peru State College get accepted. So, if you meet the first two criteria above, please fill out the application below! We look forward to seeing you!

Click Here To Apply!

History of TRiO

The term “TRiO” refers to the collection of seven different federal programs created by the U.S. government to help Americans overcome social and economic barriers to higher education. The term was originally coined in the 1960s to refer to the first three educational opportunity programs to emerge from President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Over the years, TRiO has expanded to include Student Success Services, Talent Search, Upward Bound, Veterans Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Educational Opportunity Centers, and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.