Owensboro Community and Technical College

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OCTC Receives 5-Year TRiO Grant

$272,364 for Year 1, $1.36M Over 5 Years

by Bernie Hale

Owensboro, KY (07/11/2025) — On Thursday, July 3, 2025, Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC) received notification that the U.S. Department of Education awarded the college a $1.36 million grant under the Federal TRIO Student Support Services program.

Dr. Scott Williams, OCTC President, commented, "We are very excited to be awarded the funds for continued support of our TRiO program. It is a testament to the hard work of the TRiO staff and the strength of the program. Their retention and graduation rates are stellar and that only proves that they really are helping students succeed. While they do have a limited number of students in TRiO, the programming they offer benefits all of our students who are willing to take advantage of it."

The proposed number of student participants from OCTC is 144 annually. OCTC's TRiO project is funded 100% by federal funds.

Becky Hodskins has been Director of OCTC's TRiO Student Support Services since 2017.

TRiO is a program for first-generation, low-income, and disabled students. The program provides academic advising, tutoring support, career advising, cultural enrichment activities, and assistance in applying or Financial Aid for students in need. "The goal of our program is to assist in reducing barriers that may hinder students from successfully completing classes, graduating, and/or transferring to a 4-year institution," said Hodskins.

Hodskins and other TRiO representatives are currently working to recruit 70 students to fill the vacancies left by graduates from the spring and summer semesters. Interested students may apply by visiting the web page https://owensboro.kctcs.edu/current-students/academic-resources/trio.aspx and downloading the application.

For more information on TRiO Student Support Services and the resources they provide, please contact Becky Hodskins at becky.hodskins@kctcs.edu or by phone 270.686.4613.

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Owensboro Community & Technical College is one of the sixteen community and technical colleges that make up the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. OCTC serves the KY counties of Daviess, Hancock, Ohio and McLean. OCTC has three campuses in Daviess County and a Center and Annex in Hancock County. OCTC strives to serve the communities in the service area by providing associate degree education for transfer, state of the art technical education for students focusing on entering the workforce, customized business and industry solutions through the Workforce Solutions division, and adult education and business and industry testing through the SkillTrain unit.

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The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is the Commonwealth's largest postsecondary institution with 16 colleges and more than 70 campuses. We also are Kentucky's largest provider of workforce training and online education. Through partnerships with business and industry, we align our programs to meet the needs of local employers. We help students fulfill their dreams of creating a better life through programs that lead directly to jobs or help them transfer to one of our four-year partners.

Connect with OCTC: Owensboro.kctcs | Facebook.com/owensboroctc | Twitter@OCTC_Tweets | Instagram OwensboroCTC

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