Upward Bound
Upward Bound is a federally funded educational program within the United States. The program is one of a cluster of programs referred to as TRIO, all of which owe their existence to the federal Higher Education Act. Upward Bound programs are implemented and monitored by the United States Department of Education. The goal of Upward Bound is to provide certain categories of high school students better opportunities for attending college. The categories of greatest concern are those with low income, those with parents who did not attend college, and those living in rural areas. The program works through individual grants, each of which covers a restricted geographic area and provide services to approximately 50 to 100 students annually.
Most Upward Bound programs combine two approaches to student contact:
- a summer program where high school students take college prep classes and earn work experience at a college campus for six weeks
- weekly follow up and possibly tutoring with students during the school year.
A study released by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) in 2004 entitled A Profile of the Upward Bound Program: 2000-2001 provides a detailed analysis of program demographics. Considerable challenge has been made regarding the effectiveness of the program. However, the long term impacts of a social services program such as Upward Bound are very difficult to acertain, and a recent attempt to do extensive controlled studies was cancelled due to concerns over the ethical ramifications of recruiting control students for a program knowing that they would never receive services.[1]
The program was launched in the 1965 with an annual budget of circa $250,000,000. Awards are usually made to institutes of higher education (universities), but some awards have been made to other non-profit organizations such as tribal organizations. Each award made averages $4,691 per participant, with the most common award providing $220,000 per grantee in 2004 and $250,000 in 2007. Awards are for four or five years and are competitive. The law providing for Upward Bound is 34 CFR Ch. VI Pt. 645. As federal education grants, Upward Bound awards fall under EDGAR and OMB Circular A-21 financial guidelines.
Upward Bound grants are results-based, with the level of success determined largely from highly-structured annual reports compared to grant objectives.
There are three divisions of Upward Bound:
- Upward Bound Classic for high school students
- Veteran's Upward Bound for U.S. military veterans
- Upward Bound Math and Science organized as regional centers for supporting these areas of study among high school students.
Upward Bound is part of the Federal TRIO Programs, which include Upward Bound, Veteran's Upward Bound, Talent Search, Student Support Services, Ronald McNair Post-Baccalaureate Program, and Upward Bound Math and Science.