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

TRIO (program)

The Federal TRIO Programs are federal outreach and student services programs in the United States designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are administered, funded, and implemented by the United States Department of Education...

, all of which owe their existence to the federal Higher Education Act of 1965

Higher Education Act of 1965

The Higher Education Act of 1965 was legislation signed into United States law on November 8, 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Johnson chose Texas State University–San Marcos as the signing site...

. Upward Bound programs are implemented and monitored by the United States Department of Education

United States Department of Education

The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...

. 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.

History

The program was launched in the 1965 after the enactment of the Higher Education Act of 1965

Higher Education Act of 1965

The Higher Education Act of 1965 was legislation signed into United States law on November 8, 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Johnson chose Texas State University–San Marcos as the signing site...

. It has an annual budget around $250,000,000. Grants 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

OMB Circular A-21

OMB Circular A-21 is a Government circular that sets forth the rules governing the eligibility and calculation of costs in support of sponsored research, development, training and other works produced in agreement with the United States Federal Government, but does not attempt to identify or...

 financial guidelines.

Approach

Upward Bound grants are results-based, with the level of success determined largely from highly-structured annual reports compared to grant objectives. The program is available to students after their eighth grade of school. Two-thirds of selected applicants must be low-income and "potential first-generation college students", with the remaining third of students meeting one of the requirements.

Most Upward Bound programs combine two approaches to student contact:

1. A summer program where high school students take college prep classes and earn work experience at a college campus for six weeks.
2. Weekly follow ups and possibly tutoring with students during the school year.

Effectiveness

Several studies have shown that TRIO Upward Bound is tremendously successful. A study released by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) in 2004 provides a detailed analysis of program demographics. Notable alumni of the Upward Bound program include Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

, John Quiñones

John Quiñones

Juan Manuel "John" Quiñones is an ABC News correspondent, and currently the host of Primetime: What Would You Do?.-Early life and education:John Quiñones was born in San Antonio, Texas on May 23, 1952...

, Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett

Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...

, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Donna Brazile

Donna Brazile

Donna Brazile is an American author, professor, and political analyst affiliated with the Democratic Party. She was the first African American to direct a major presidential campaign, for Al Gore in 2000...

, Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing

Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...

, Henry Bonilla

Henry Bonilla

Henry Bonilla is a former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Davis Rodriguez, a former Democratic member of Congress, in a special election runoff held on December 12, 2006...

, and Viola Davis

Viola Davis

Viola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...

.

External links

The Upward Bound home page