MTSU secures $1.5M Department of Education grant to further fund student support services

Middle Tennessee State University graduates of the university’s Student Support Services program celebrate at the program’s annual Spring Graduation Celebration in May 2025 at the Sam Ingram Training Center on campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Submitted photo)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Staff at Middle Tennessee State University’s Student Support Services spared no effort in procuring the $1.5 million “TRIO” federal education grant to ensure continued funding for the university’s key student support services.

“Securing this grant underscores both the strength of our proposal and the demonstrated effectiveness of our services,” said Melissa Towe, program director. “It affirms that our work remains aligned with national priorities around educational access, persistence and completion for first-generation and underrepresented students.”

Melissa Towe

The Federal TRIO Programs are Department of Education outreach and student services grants available in five-year cycles and intended to help low-income, first-generation college students and those with disabilities succeed in higher education.

MTSU’s Student Support Services, Towe said, uses these funds to support students through the challenges of higher education and help them realize their full potential.

“We act as their personal college guide, so to speak,” Towe said. “We help them navigate the college systems and provide resources such as tutoring, academic advising, skill development, financial literacy and personal success coaching, to name a few.

“We are by their side as they reach milestones like persevering through their studies year-to-year, graduating, entering the workforce or pursuing continued education.”

This latest grant marks Towe’s third successful cycle landing the TRIO in her 12-year tenure as program director. Towe called this cycle “particularly meaningful” in light of the funds facing heightened scrutiny recently.

“In this current climate, winning reflects our unwavering commitment to student success during a time when programs like TRIO must clearly demonstrate their value and impact,” she said.

For the Bowling Green, Kentucky, native, the funding and the program are not only a matter of practical and equitable education access, they are also personal.

“As a first-generation college graduate, I overcame many of the obstacles my (Student Support Services) participants face,” she said. “I was fortunate enough to have great mentors guide my path.”

Towe highlighted that TRIO funding, which marked its 40th anniversary in February, makes this support possible for 175 current MTSU students and about 87,000 across the country.

“When we get to witness these students who once doubted themselves walk across the graduation stage, there’s almost nothing as fulfilling,” she said. “TRIO makes this consistent support achievable.”

TRIO programs ‘saved my life’

Alissa Belton, an MTSU and Student Support Services graduate who now works as an academic counselor and mentor coordinator in that office, said she would not have made it past her freshman year without the program’s support.

“My entire life goal was to be the first in my family to go to college, but I had no idea what to do when I got here,” said Belton, originally from Newbern, Tennessee. “I was without a major, without people I knew, without anyone to help me. I walked into Director Towe’s office and said, ‘I can’t do this. I quit.’”

Towe first introduced Belton to an academic counselor, the role Belton now holds herself. Then, Belton said, the office helped her acclimate, find a major and find a purpose.

Alissa Belton, right, an academic counselor in Middle Tennessee State University’s Student Support Services, attends the Council for Opportunity in Education Policy Seminar on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in March 2026 to advocate for the Federal TRIO Programs that fund student support services for college students across the country. Melissa Towe, director of MTSU’s Student Support Services, recently secured a third cycle of $1.5 million TRIO funds to ensure continued funding for the university’s key student supports. (Submitted photo)

“The program supported me throughout my time as a resident assistant in Housing and Residential Life, as an executive board member in my sorority, and an SSS peer mentor,” she said. “SSS also made sure I got into the graduate school of my dreams.”

Belton now not only gives back to the campus community through her Student Support Services counselor role, but she and other program staff also advocate for TRIO at a national level — most recently at the 2026 Council for Opportunity in Education Policy Seminar on Capitol Hill in Washington in March.

“Advocacy is a huge part of what we do,” she said, this her third trip to the annual event. “TRIO practitioners and alumni from all over the country talk about the impact of TRIO and make sure Congress members know what we do and why we are important.”

Learn more about MTSU’s Student Support Services at https://www.mtsu.edu/ssupport/.

— Stephanie Wagner (Stephanie.Wagner@mtsu.edu)