Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

BENTON HARBOR — The Educational Opportunity Center, hosted by Lake Michigan College, received a $1.95 million federal grant to help individuals successfully pursue postsecondary education.

The five-year grant, dispersed in annual awards of $391,147, provides services to participants in the Michigan counties of Berrien, Cass, Van Buren and Allegan, and the Indiana counties of La Porte and St. Joseph. Funding for the budget period, which began Sept. 1 and continues through Aug. 31, 2022, will be used for the 2021-2022 academic year.

“This program will allow us to assist families by providing them with information regarding financial and academic resources available to students looking to pursue secondary and postsecondary education,” said Nygil B. Likely, LMC’s Vice President of Student Affairs and Title IX Coordinator. “Students can also benefit from workshops designed to improve their financial and economic literacy skills.”

The Educational Opportunity Center program is a free community service that provides information and assistance to adults age 19 years and older who are interested in furthering their education. Services to eligible participants include academic tutoring, career assessment, assistance completing applications toward college entrance, referrals to appropriate adult education centers and community assistance agencies, and financial and economic literacy counseling.

Lake Michigan College has hosted the Educational Opportunity Center since 1994. Over the past 27 years, it has served more than 25,000 individuals in Southwest Michigan and Indiana. The goal of the EOC is to increase the number of adult participants who enroll in postsecondary education institutions.

Educational Opportunity Centers are one of eight federal grant programs collectively known as the Federal TRIO Programs. TRIO Programs identify and provide services for individuals who meet the federal income eligibility guidelines, are potential first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities.

For more information about the Educational Opportunity Center, call (269) 927-8965 or visit lakemichigancollege.edu/EOC.