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Annual Performance Report Letter to SSS Project Directors

November 2, 2020

Dear Student Support Services Project Director:

This letter is in regard to the Student Support Services Program (SSS) Annual Performance Report (APR) submission for the 2019-20 reporting year. Beginning November 2, 2020, please visit https://trio.ed.gov/ to access the Web application. The deadline for submitting the APR is December 7, 2020

What’s New:

The 2019-20 SSS APR will be the third year in which grantees will report Student Case Numbers in Field #3 of the student record file.  Valid Case Numbers must be reported for all current and prior year participants who had been reported on in the 2018-19 APR collection.  Grantees will find the valid Student Case Numbers for each of these participants in the “2018-19 download file” (or “the match file”) that grantees can access when they begin Section II of the APR.  Grantees must use the exact Case Number for each participant in this download file as a requirement for APR submission.  The APR data collection tool will not allow submission in which Case Numbers do not precisely match student records from 2018-19 to 2019-20. 

Additionally, the 2019-20 SSS APR will be the third year in which the data collection system will not allow reporting of records from prior year participants in out-of-range cohorts.  A prior year participant is from an out-of-range cohort if the cohort has already been evaluated for the degree attainment standard objective.  In the 2019-20 APR, the degree attainment standard objective for four year institutions will be evaluated for participants first served in the 2014-15 academic year (Cohort 16); the degree attainment standard objectives for two year institutions will be evaluated for participants first served in the 2016-17 academic year (Cohort 18).  The 2019-20 APR system will not allow grantees to report on prior year participants first served before the 2014-15 academic year (for four year institutions) or first served before the 2016-17 academic year (for two year institutions).

Social Security Numbers will not be collected.  Do not report Social Security Numbers.

Prior Experience Points:

Please note that prior experience (PE) points are assessed in the second, third and fourth years of the grant cycle. Since the 2019-20 reporting period is the fifth year of the grant cycle, the Department of Education (Department) will NOT use the data you submit to calculate your PE points. However, please note that failure to submit your APR may adversely impact your future PE points because your 2019-20 APR data is used to establish new cohorts that will be used for the completion objective in future PE assessment years.

Useful Information:
For your convenience, the following information is being provided concerning your access to the Web application:

  • Registration

All grantees must register a password in order to protect the security of their APR data.  All first-time users must register on the site in order to set up their account. To register, click on the "Login and Registration" link and provide the Project Director’s first and last name and email address.  If the PR number, last name, and email address match the data that the Department currently has on file, users will proceed with the registration process by providing a password, password confirmation, and selecting two security questions before submitting the form.  Users will be required to login again using the PR number and re-entering the password.

If the project director’s information has changed or needed to be updated from what the system holds, the user can use the registration page to contact the Help Desk to submit updated information for verification. The Help Desk will create a ticket in the TRIO Help Desk log and initiate a verification process with the program office.

  • The Help Desk

If you encounter technical problems accessing the Web site or using the Web application, please contact the Help Desk by either telephone at (703) 885-8008 or e-mail at generaltrio@collabralink.com. Please note that the Help Desk will try to contact projects within one working day of the telephone call or e-mail. The Help Desk will be available to respond to your questions on weekdays from November 2, 2020 to December 7, 2020 (excluding Federal Holidays). During peak times, it may take longer for you to receive a response, thus, we encourage you to prepare and submit your performance report as soon as you have collected complete data.

If for any reason you need to revise your performance report data after you submit it, please contact the Help Desk for information on revising your report and resubmitting it electronically. Please note that generally the Department will be able to accommodate revisions only until the due date for submitting your APR. If you have questions regarding the performance report requirements, please contact your ED program specialist directly. To ascertain your ED program specialist's name, telephone number, and e-mail address, please visit https://www2.ed.gov/programs/triostudsupp/sssstates9152020.pdf.

Sincerely,

James Davis
Director,
Undergraduate Programs Division

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Last Modified: 04/04/2022