WKU News

Photo from 2018 at Warren County Adult Education

The U.S. Department of Education announced that Western Kentucky University will receive a federal Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) grant of $1.4 million to help unemployed workers, low-wage workers, and returning high school and college students enter or continue a program of postsecondary education. WKU EOC has served students in the southcentral Kentucky region since 2002.

WKU TRIO’s EOC project serves students in the following areas: Allen County, Barren County, Butler County, Edmonson County, Hart County, Logan County, Metcalfe County, Monroe County, Simpson County and Warren County.

The grant will provide five years of funding to help 1,000 adult learners each year find their path to higher education.

EOC provides counseling and information on college admissions and services to improve participants’ financial and economic literacy. Among comprehensive services are academic and personal counseling, tutoring and mentoring, career workshops, information on postsecondary education opportunities, student financial assistance, and help in completing applications for college admissions. EOC programs offer services to a broad range of adult learners, including those who are limited English proficient, from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education, individuals with disabilities, homeless individuals, youth aging out of the foster care system, and other disconnected students.

Dr. Martha Sales, Executive Director of TRIO Programs at WKU, stated: “There is nothing like assisting adults with their college aspirations and success. If I have said it once, I will say it 1.4 million times — TRIO programs work and WKU TRIO programs ROCK!”

EOC began in 1972 and is part of a set of federal educational opportunity outreach programs known as “TRIO,” which is authorized by the Higher Education Act to help low-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities succeed in higher education. In FY20 there were 139 Educational Opportunity Centers in America serving more than 192,000 adult learners nationwide.

“As systemic inequality and financial hardship discourage students from succeeding in college, TRIO programs like EOC take on new importance because they continue to help guide un- and underemployed workers and returning high school and college students towards earning a degree,” said Maureen Hoyler, president of the non-profit Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) in Washington, D.C. COE is dedicated to furthering the expansion of college opportunities for low-income, first-generation students, and students with disabilities nationwide.

For more about WKU TRIO’s EOC project, visit https://www.wku.edu/eoc/index.php

Contact: Martha Sales, martha.sales@wku.edu