Top 10 Common Pitfalls in Year 1 of TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) and How to Avoid Them

Congratulations on being funded! Securing a TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) grant is a major achievement. The first year can be both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. To help you start strong, here are the 10 most common pitfalls that new SSS programs face, along with practical strategies to avoid them.

1. Waiting Too Long to Recruit Students

Pitfall: Delaying recruitment until systems feel “perfect.” This risks falling behind in terms of participant numbers and services.

Avoid it: Move fast. Leverage campus resources and partnerships, such as advisors, faculty, financial aid, and first-year programs, to make students aware of SSS and generate referrals. Start recruitment campaigns immediately, then refine intake as you grow. Ensure all recruited students are documented for eligibility before serving them.

2. Overloading the Calendar

Pitfall: Trying to offer every possible activity at once.

Avoid it: Start with core services such as advising, tutoring, and workshops. Add only those permissible under the TRIO SSS scope, and ensure you have a way to track them. Use your grant objectives as a filter — only plan activities that directly support your objectives and CPPs in the first semester. Create an annual services calendar to help you pace yourself and prevent overload.

3. Forgetting About Competitive Preference Priorities (CPPs)

Pitfall: Treating CPPs like “extra” commitments and overlooking them until APR season.

Avoid it: Translate your CPPs into real services now. Add them to your semester calendar and track outcomes from the start.

4. No Clear Student Intake & Eligibility Verification Process

Pitfall: Enrolling students without a structured intake process or incomplete eligibility documentation.

Avoid it: Establish a standardized intake system that collects applications, verifies Pell/first-gen/disability status, and records student goals. This ensures every participant meets TRIO requirements and provides the foundation for tracking services throughout the year.

5. Not Linking Intake to Service Tracking

Pitfall: Treating intake and service tracking as separate processes, which leads to gaps or inconsistencies in APR data.

Avoid it: Connect your intake system directly to your service tracking method (database, Smartsheet, or logs). Each service entry, including notes should be tied back to an eligible student record. This creates a complete compliance trail from eligibility → services → outcomes, making APR reporting accurate and stress-free.

6. Staff Role Confusion

Pitfall: Overlapping duties or missed responsibilities create gaps in service delivery and compliance reporting.

Avoid it: Clearly define staff roles and responsibilities from the start. Create a written responsibility matrix (such as a RACI chart or duty list) and review it in team meetings each semester. This ensures every service, compliance task, and reporting responsibility is assigned and consistently monitored.

7. Ignoring Campus Partnerships

Pitfall: Operating in a silo without leveraging campus resources limits recruitment, referrals, and student support.

Avoid it: Activate the institutional commitments and letters of support identified in your proposal. Meet with those campus partners early to establish referral processes and shared expectations. Document how those commitments are being implemented, for example, track referrals from advising or tutoring centers. Leveraging these existing commitments ensures you meet proposal promises and strengthens compliance in your APR.

8. Failing to Document Eligibility & Services

Pitfall: Relying on memory or scattered notes when asked to show proof of student eligibility or services provided.

Avoid it: From day one, maintain organized records that document eligibility (applications, Pell/first-gen/disability verification) and services (advising notes, tutoring logs, workshop sign-ins). Use a shared database or tracking system to ensure staff can consistently log requirements. This keeps your program compliant, strengthens your APR, and makes reporting far less stressful.

9. Misalignment With Grant Objectives

Pitfall: Offering services and activities that sound beneficial but don’t align with the specific objectives and commitments in your funded proposal.

Avoid it: Revisit your approved grant regularly (at least once per quarter) to ensure that every service, partnership, and activity directly ties to the stated objectives, outcomes, and CPPs. Keep a quarterly alignment review checklist and log any deviations. Alignment protects compliance, strengthens your APR, and prevents audit findings.

10. Waiting Until APR Season to Prepare

Pitfall: Treating the APR as a one-time ordeal rather than an ongoing compliance requirement.

Avoid it: Build an APR tracking calendar and dashboard at the start of your grant year. Record all services, outcomes, and Competitive Preference Priority (CPP) metrics continuously. Conduct monthly reviews to monitor progress, identify any missing evidence, and adjust activities (i.e., timing, dosage) as needed. That way, the APR season becomes a compilation of well-kept records, not a scramble to reconstruct your year.

Think of your funded proposal as a roadmap, not a shelf document. Staying aligned reduces stress, strengthens compliance, and positions your program for long-term success.

Quick Wins You Can Do This Month

To set your SSS program on the right path, try these simple steps now:

• Schedule an intake system review to ensure eligibility documentation is complete and consistent.
• Set up a monthly APR check-in with your team to track services, CPP progress, and evidence.
• Activate campus commitments by meeting with at least two key partners (e.g., advising or tutoring centers) to finalize referral processes.
• Create a shared evidence folder where all staff can upload sign-in sheets, agendas, and service logs.
• Clarify staff responsibilities by completing a RACI chart so nothing falls through the cracks.

Need help clarifying staff roles?

Download this free RACI Chart Template to define who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each major SSS service and compliance task.

From all of us at Vision Shift Catalyst, congratulations again on being funded. We’re cheering you on as you launch your SSS program! If you’d like more tools and support to strengthen your TRIO work, explore our services here:
👉 Vision Shift Catalyst | TRIO Support