Federal Grant Supports First-Generation College Students in Bend

Central Oregon Community College received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to provide low-income, first-generation students with specialized support to help them graduate and transfer to a four-year university. The TRIO Student Support Services grant will help 140 students per year over the next four years, pending congressional approval after the first year. It’s the first time COCC has applied for the TRIO. Ten other Oregon community colleges and eight Oregon universities also have the grant. COCC also received a grant from the State of Oregon’s First-Generation Student Success program which will fund a portion of the TRIO program.

COCC says the grant will pay for staff dedicated to assisting the students, including a project director, tutors and student success coaches. The team will advise and encourage students as they complete their studies at COCC and move onto a four-year university.

“The grant was awarded in September, but we have not yet begun serving students. We are in the process of hiring the staff and developing the space were we will be able to assist students and anticipate doing so at the beginning of winter term,” COCC’s Dean of Student Engagement Andrew Davis told the Source.

Selected students will be assigned a success coach and access to other support services such as tutors, workshops and tours of universities. The Oregon TRIO Association states that 77% of participating students in the 2023-24 year graduated with a bachelor’s degree within six years.

“Coaches will carry an approximate load of 60 students and the director will carry approximately 20 students,” Davis says. While the grant won’t financially benefit low-income students, staff will connect them to other college resources that can address individual needs like financial aid, tutoring and wellbeing.

The grant will help first-generation COCC students climb the steps to further their education at four-year universities. Credit: Central Oregon Community College

TRIO programs began nationwide in 1964 and have been supported by Congress. A news release states that past alumni of TRIO support include NBA All-Star Patrick Ewing, the first Hispanic NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).

At COCC, during the last academic year of 2024-25, more than 26% of credit students identified as first-generation, meaning the first in their family to attend college, and 23% identified as low income.

This article appears in the Source October 16, 2025.