Nicholls given $1.2 million TRIO grant for center

With the help of a five-year, $1.2 million Federal TRIO Grant, Nicholls State University has announced the creation of the Bayou Educational Opportunity Center, a program aimed at expanding higher education opportunities for disadvantaged and underrepresented students.

The Opportunity Center, housed at Nicholls and fully funded by the TRIO Grant, will partner with local school districts and adult education centers including Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish school boards, Bayou Cane Adult Education School, South Central Louisiana Technical College, Fletcher Technical Community College, and other community groups.

These partnerships will help to provide readily accessible college guidance to qualifying high school seniors, adult education graduates

and parents of low-income, first-generation college students.

“Our goal is to help more students understand and overcome the barriers to entry into higher education,” said Debi Benoit, Nicholls’ director of research and sponsored programs.

The Federal TRIO Program, established in 1964, was created to assist in the academic progress of disadvantaged individuals – like low-income, first-generation college or disabled students. Educational Opportunity Centers are one of eight grant programs offered through the Federal TRIO Program.

“A college education can change the trajectory of a person’s life,” Nicholls Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Lynn Gillette said. “We are excited that we received this grant from the Department of Education to help more first-generation, low-income students in our region obtain a college degree.”

The Bayou Educational Opportunity Center’s goal is to increase the adult students enrolled in higher education by providing them with the help they need to succeed.

Participants will be connected to tutors and mentors to assist in their financial and economic literacy development.

They also will have connections to local, state and federal scholarship opportunities and financial aid tools.

“The Opportunity Center will inspire more students to prepare for the job market of the future,” Benoit said.

The Opportunity Center will also employ a program director and two outreach coordinators that will work with a minimum of 1,000 participants over the course of the grant, which expires on August 31, 2021.