The U.S. Department of Education recently renewed a more than $1 million, five-year grant to assist the University of Detroit Mercy’s TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) in providing support to low-income, first-generation and disabled students.

The grant will go toward “academic tutoring, financial aid advice, career and college mentoring, assistance with course selection, locating public and private scholarships, applying for admission to graduate and professional schools, education opportunities to develop financial and economic literacy skills, and other forms of assistance,” a release issued on the university's website said.

“With the COVID-19 global pandemic serving as an added potential hindrance to student access and success, the renewal of the TRIO SSS grant is more important than ever,” Amber Johnson, director of TRIO Student Support Services, said in the release. “Student Support Services places a high priority on ensuring that promising students have the resources and support necessary to be successful and complete their degree through a family-oriented environment that is filled with academic support, accountability, exposure and camaraderie.”