Welcome to the Educational Opportunity Centers Program!

There's no better time than now to plan for your future!

Program Overview

The Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) Program at UW-Eau Claire provides free counseling and assistance on college admissions, including financial options, for qualified adults who are considering post-secondary educational options.

What is EOC?

The Educational Opportunity Centers Program (EOC) is a federally funded TRiO program providing counseling and information on college admissions to qualified adults who want to enter or continue a program of postsecondary education. An important objective of the program is to counsel participants on financial aid options and to assist in the application process. The goal of the EOC program is to increase the number of adult participants who enroll in postsecondary education institutions.

EOC is a community-based program that aims to make program services accessible by meeting with prospective participants through satellite sites within the program's ten-county target area (Barron, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Rusk, Sawyer, Trempealeau, and Washburn). EOC works in partnership with a variety of public and private organizations such as human service agencies, schools, businesses, correctional institutions and treatment centers, to identify and serve eligible individuals who are interested in furthering their education and improving their financial circumstances and/or employment options.

Like all TRiO programs, Educational Opportunity Centers operate against specific, measurable outcome objectives as clearly defined in each approved grant proposal. The program directors are held accountable and must meet their stated objectives each year if they expect to remain funded and thereby continue to help participants in their targeted service area.

EOC at Eau Claire

While there are 135 Educational Opportunity Centers programs throughout the United States, there are only two in the state of Wisconsin. UW-Eau Claire has been successful in receiving funding for EOC from the U.S. Department of Education since 1994. With offices at UW-Eau Claire and in Rice Lake, at UW-Barron County, the program serves more than 1,100 eligible adults each year.

The EOC is a division of Undergraduate Studies:
Undergraduate Studies promotes the success of all students by coordinating academic support services with curricular programs

Who says a college kid has to be a kid?

You are becoming a role model for your family, friends, or fellow employees. What you're experiencing and learning, both in content and survivorship skills, is worthy of respect...and you'll get it. The tone you set by prioritizing your time and study responsibilities will become a model for others to follow.

College is the time to struggle to learn a formula or a concept…it’s supposed to be hard. That’s how you learn to think, to problem-solve. Your boss probably won’t be as lenient or as helpful as your professors.

If I end up never being a biologist, I still wouldn’t trade my life in college. I learned so much about who I am…what makes me succeed and what makes me fail. It was an exploration of me…

The best gift you can give yourself or your family is an education. When you receive your diploma, most everyone will agree the sacrifices made by you and your family were worth the effort.

You can’t turn back the clock, but you can make up for lost time.

You are seeking a degree because you have decided that this is what you need to do to have the best life possible for you and your family. You are eager to learn, and that means you will be willing to do the work, as for assistance, and stretch your limits.

As you go further in your academic career, your life experiences will serve you well.