President Bush Calls for the Elimination of Upward Bound

When President Bush presented his 2006 budget to Congress last week, he proposed cutting funding for Upward Bound and three other popular pre–college programs that target low–income students and military veterans. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the government previously budgeted $460 million for Upward Bound, Math/Science Upward Bound, Educational Talent Search, and Upward Bound for Military Veterans. Currently, these programs serve approximately 500,000 high school students and military veterans from low–income families.

For the past 25 years, the Traditional Upward Bound Program at CLU has successfully helped low–income high school students in Ventura County become the first in their families to go to college. Upward Bound at CLU provides its participants with an intensive five–week summer residential program that offers low–income high school students an opportunity to live in college dormitories and take academically challenging courses to prepare for college admission. During the academic year, Upward Bound participants have the opportunity to take advantage of academic classes on the weekends, SAT preparation workshops, after–school tutoring, mentoring programs, academic advisement, college tours, and financial aid workshops for parents and students.

The federally funded Upward Bound Program at CLU has had 100 percent of its participants graduate from high school. These seniors have been accepted to a minimum of three post secondary institutions. Approximately 75 percent of alumni from Upward Bound at CLU graduate from colleges and universities within six years of their high school enrollment.