For TRIO · Upward Bound · College Ministries
The persistence curriculum that helps your students stay enrolled, not just get admitted.
The Persistence Gap
TRIO programs are measured on persistence. Nationally, about one in four first-year students does not return for sophomore year, and the gap is wider for the first-generation and low-income students TRIO serves. The breakdown is rarely academic. It is the everyday life skills that decide whether a student gets to class, manages money, sleeps, eats, asks for help, and holds onto identity under pressure.
The students who leave rarely fail out. They run out of the skills that hold a hard year together.
What It Is
A ten-week college readiness and persistence curriculum built on seven life skills, anchored by two validated assessments and a debrief. Delivered in virtual cohorts that scale across a service area, with rolling entry so a student can join any week. In-person delivery available on request.
Every participant completes the EQ-i 2.0 Higher Education assessment and the Maxwell Method DISC profile, receives a one-on-one debrief, and earns a certificate of completion. The curriculum is not coached opinion. It is built on what the data says each student actually needs.
The Seven Skills
The seven skills track the everyday behaviors that keep a student enrolled. Each develops a named composite of the EQ-i 2.0 profile. Select a skill to see what it protects and what it builds.
Where It Fits Your Program
Pick the program you run. The Lab maps to the persistence and good-standing outcomes you already report on.
Structured to qualify as an allowable cost under EDGAR and the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR Part 200), delivered as mentoring, counseling, and related programs and activities for the populations TRIO serves. Free to your students, funded through the grant.
What Your Grant Funds
Scoped to your grant and priced per participant or as a flat cohort license. Request a grant-ready quote for your budget narrative.
Scope Your Cohort
Set your program, cohort size, and delivery. We draft the scope language you can paste into a quote request. No price guessing, no commitment.
Who Builds It
Founded by Dr. Tremayne Thurman, OTD, a certified EQ-i 2.0 consultant and a Maxwell Method DISC consultant and trainer with nearly two decades of clinical and academic work in occupational therapy. Built in partnership with the Francis Marion University Department of Occupational Therapy program, whose pre and post EQ-i 2.0 dataset publishes in Fall 2026, and anchored by TGG's 23% Advantage proof of concept.