Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the listed majors of  Talaya Guest and India Lockett on Nov. 13 at 6:02 p.m. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct Guest’s affiliation with TRIO. She is a member of SSS, not SSS-D.

TRIO has been a vital part of WKU student Talaya Guest’s college career.

Guest,  a senior majoring in corporate and organizational communication, said Student Support Services has provided her with needed support and structure, and made her more confident academically and personally. Guest said she felt “lost” in her academic journey before getting involved with SSS, one of six TRIO programs at WKU.

“I felt that I couldn’t balance having a disability while also trying to maintain an education,” Guest said.

Guest is one of thousands of students helped by TRIO programs at WKU every year, which are designed to help make higher education more accessible to first-generation and income-eligible students.

TRIO Executive Director Brian Brausch estimates Student Support Services and SSS-D together provide support for upwards of 450 students at WKU every year, though they are only funded to support 325.

Students eligible for SSS and SSS-D receive services tailored to their needs, interests and comforts.

“It’s about making sure that you remove as many barriers as you can to further student success,” Brausch said.

WKU TRIO leadership feared that federal funding for the programs was at risk amid aggressive cuts by the Trump administration. In May, the White House issued a congressional budget request that proposed eliminating the federal TRIO programs, referring to them as a “relic of the past.”

“Access to college is not the obstacle it was for students of limited means,” the budget stated.

“It was scary,” said Jimmie Martin, who has been the director of SSS-D at WKU since its introduction in 2020.

Ultimately, TRIO learned its funding was safe, but the situation’s precarity underscored the importance of the programs. Other institutions, however, may not fare so well.

Morehead State University was one of more than two dozen schools across the country that had federal TRIO funds frozen in September. The school received a no-cost extension notice for federal funding of its TRIO Talent Search programs, which forced them to cut all in-person services for participating students. In all, the Trump administration abruptly froze $660 million in grant funding that was supposed to be distributed by Sept. 1.

Some schools had TRIO grants cancelled entirely, like Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania and Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona.

Though MSU TRIO had to triage for the month of September, Summer Fawn Copely-Bryant, Director of MSU’s TRIO Talent Search Programs, said they received their funding for fiscal year 2025-26, and that all services had been reinstated.

Federal TRIO programs are forward funded, meaning operating funds for Program Year 2025-26 were allocated in the FY 2025 continuing resolution passed in March 2025, according to the Council for Opportunity in Education.

TRIO programs have been enshrined in federal law since 1968, predating the Department of Education, and serve roughly 870,000 students per year, according to the COE.

In May, the White House issued a congressional budget request that proposed eliminating the federal TRIO programs.

At WKU, in addition to SSS and SSS-D, the TRIO programs include Upward Bound, Veterans Upward Bound, Talent Search and the Educational Opportunity Centers. Upward Bound and Talent Search, which both help support prospective college students from impoverished backgrounds, were two of the original TRIO programs, alongside Student Support Services. The programs were introduced as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty between 1964-1968.

Veterans Upward Bound provides support for former members of the military, and Educational Opportunity Centers help veterans and other adults pursue higher education.

The Republican budget for FY 2026 cuts $23.9 billion for programs across the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and other related agencies. Despite this, federal TRIO Programs were allocated $1.19 billion.

WKU announced in September that the U.S. Department of Education had awarded SSS $1.8 million and SSS-D $1.36 million annually over the next five years.

Programs typically received around a 4% annual increase in the past to account for factors like interest rates and inflation, Brausch said.

TRIO programs have been level-funded since FY 2023, during which time the U.S. dollar value has decreased by more than 6% due to inflation, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. This, combined with other cost increases, means funding has to be stretched.

These budget constraints have forced TRIO to delay university salary increases for its staff. Brausch said they have not been forced to lay any employees off, but that voluntary resignations have prompted restructuring of workloads and consolidation of responsibilities.

“We’ve had to do a little bit of rearranging the staffing and doubling up and things like that, like office coordinators covering two offices,” Brausch said. “We do our best not to have that affect any students, we provide the same amount; it actually just makes our staff work harder.”

Aside from the personal benefits provided to students, funding the programs ultimately pays for itself and more, Brausch said.

“In general, across the country, for every dollar that’s spent on a student in the TRIO program, the return investment is $13,” Brausch said. “The amount of taxes that an individual pays from a high school graduate versus a college graduate is over $334,000 over the lifetime.”

Threats to funding for programs like TRIO mean that, on top of their standard duties, the staff have to spend time advocating for the importance of their own funding.

“The people who work in TRIO programs, I think naturally, are advocates, and we’re willing to go to bat for what we believe in,” SSS Director Lindsey Houchin said. “I believe in the students we serve, and I believe in the power of the programs that we work in, because we see it every day, and so it’s undeniable that it’s valuable.”

TRIO offers individual or group meetings with academic coaches, in-person or virtually, to help students succeed and graduate. Services include tutoring, academic support and advising, guidance in financial aid and planning, and even visits to universities to explore programs and campuses.

Houchin said her role is like that of an offensive lineman on a football team, clearing the way “so that students can score.”

Martin said that aside from providing students with individual support, part of the program’s goal is to help create and cultivate community among the students.

Guest has been in SSS-D for three years and is now a peer success coach for the program.

Guest said she wants to continue to pay the support she’s received forward by becoming a counselor for high schoolers when she graduates in the spring.

“I just want to make a difference in the students and give them more opportunities and more voice,” Guest said.

India Lockett transferred to WKU from Jefferson Community and Technical College in the fall of 2023, where she felt unsupported while getting her associate degree. She said that as a first-gen student, SSS has been integral to her academic success at WKU.

“I was having a lot of imposter syndrome, like I couldn’t fit in academically or socially,” Lockett said. “TRIO gave me the same confidence that I was searching for, and that imposter syndrome was just shrinking.”

Since the moment she was accepted into SSS three years ago, Lockett has felt supported, valued and seen.

“More students should have that opportunity and shouldn’t feel that, you know, you’re not asking for a handout,” Lockett said. “These are programs here to help you, not to challenge you or judge you.”

Lockett is now a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in African American studies. She is also the Events and Media Intern for SSS-D.

Lockett pointed to first-gen faculty members at WKU as inspirational figures, like Director of Student Acccessibility Resource Center Peggy Crowe, , Provost Bud Fischer and Alumni Association Executive Director Anthony McAdoo.

Brausch also noted Evelyn Thrasher, dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business and Martha Sales, dean of Students, who used to be the director of TRIO, were also first-generation students.

Lockett hopes to pursue a master’s degree in student affairs at WKU after she graduates in the spring.

“I love being a cheerleader for students that can’t advocate for themselves,” Lockett said.

Brausch, Houchin and Martin recounted stories of students in desperate situations, where TRIO coordinators have offered a lifeline, sometimes calling numerous offices multiple times looking for help. Houchin said it’s hard to imagine students being forced to handle such situations on their own.

“There is no way to quantify the actual story of the human beings that are going through the program,” Martin said.

Brausch shared a story of a high school TRIO participant who was homeless her last few months before graduating. After coordinating finances and resources, the student was told a scholarship already deposited to her would be revoked. One of TRIO’s academic coordinators called every day until the scholarship was returned.

“That’s not something you would expect a student to have to do,” Brausch said.

Brausch said many of the students he’s worked with have come from refugee backgrounds and survived harrowing experiences. Now, in the United States, they face very different challenges.

“The fact of the matter is, they’re the most resilient people on the face of the earth,” Brausch said. “Compared to all the other stuff you got to deal with, college is easy.”

Brausch’s go-to analogy was a park ranger, helping students to find their path and prepare for what lies ahead.

“Sometimes, if you fall off the side of the cliff, we’re there to pick you up,” Brausch said.

Despite concerns about funding, those involved with TRIO programs have no doubts about their efficacy and importance.

Houchin said she likes to see students recognizing things they thought were “barriers and extra weight” were actually their “superpowers.” “That’s what we hope they can walk away with so that next year, five years from now, ten years from now,” Houchins said. “They’re reaching back out and saying, ‘I remember that conversation. I can’t imagine where I’d be if it weren’t for that.’”