Helping hand to higher ed

A Chico State program that prepares low-income students and first-generation college-bound students for success in higher education just got a major boost, according to a university press release.

Over the next five years, Educational Talent Search (ETS) will receive more than $3 million from two separate grants from the U.S. Department of Education through the federal TRIO programs. The money will be used to provide a variety of support, including academic, career and financial counseling, to the 1,330 participating high-school students from Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Sutter and Yuba counties.

Diana Parra-Villaseñor, director of ETS, noted that many students in the program’s target area do not make it through high school. Of those who do, just 50 percent seek higher education. However, in the past seven years, 90 percent of ETS graduates have enrolled in college.

“Our ETS staff understands first-hand the difference educational equity programs make in bridging the gap from high school to college,” she said in the press release.