Educational Advancement Program

The Educational Advancement Program and the Ronald McNair Post Baccalaureate Program, which this office also administers, are federally funded programs for disadvantaged students. The McNair program is named for astronaut Ronald McNair, who died aboard Challenger in 1986. The original TRIO of programs was the Upward Bound Program, which emerged from the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964; Talent Search, which was created as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965; and Special Services for Disadvantaged Students (now referred to as Student Support Services), which was authorized by the Higher Education Amendments. Other programs have been added, including the Ronald McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program (1986), but the programs are still generally referred to as TRIO programs. UT’s Educational Advancement Program, first funded in 1978, provides special services for disadvantaged and disabled students.