Upward Bound's Funding Tumbles

By ADAM EMERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 17, 2007

TAMPA - Last week's start of the summer Upward Bound program at the University of South Florida may be the last.

The U.S. Department of Education recently killed funding for the university's mentoring program, which guides low-income, mostly minority high school students from the Tampa area into college.

Recent action in Congress could save USF's funding, giving the program's directors reason to hope. But nothing is final.

Upward Bound has been a staple at USF for 41 years. In that time, high school students in the program entered college at an average rate of 95 percent, Education Department figures show. Nearly 2,500 of the program's alumni have graduated from college.

Yet a panel of grant judges who reviewed the university's most recent funding request ruled that the program's directors failed to properly show why they needed the money, and that their plan of success was "overly ambitious."

USF's proposal, however, wasn't written much differently from years past, said Robert Davis, the university's Upward Bound director. In the 12 years he has led the effort, the university has scored high points in securing about $650,000 every year, the largest Upward Bound award of any Florida college.

"How can you let a program go that has 41 years in the community?" said Davis, an Upward Bound alumnus who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from USF.

USF isn't alone. Upward Bound programs that ran for years at the University of Florida and Florida A&M University also lost funding.

Bush Has Opposed Program

Davis and the program's backers accuse the federal government of playing politics. In the past, President Bush unsuccessfully pushed to eliminate the program, which began as a Great Society program 40 years ago. Bush preferred directing more grants to states for use in their own college programs.

Two years ago, the White House Office of Management and Budget pronounced Upward Bound "deficient."

Jane Glickman, an Education Department spokeswoman, said politics had nothing to do with the panel of grant judges' decision. Although Congress approved about $257 million for the program nationwide, "there's always more projects than we can fund," Glickman said.

About 100 Upward Bound programs nationwide that had been receiving federal money learned last month that they lost their grants, after they accepted students. The list includes two esteemed universities: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

Those schools cannot apply again for four years. This summer's USF program is backed by the university, where leaders paid about $250,000 for an "Upward Bound-like" summer experience, which includes instruction in math and English, campus dorm life and field trips to several colleges.

The traditional program extends all school year for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, and includes weekly mentoring sessions, SAT prep classes and college trips during spring break. USF's financial support stops in July, and the program may end after that, said Colleen Kennedy, dean of the university's College of Education, which administers the program.

Although she finds the federal government's move "deeply regretful," Kennedy notes that the university has other efforts to guide low-income and minority students to college. Among them are the state's College Reach Out Program, which targets many middle school students, and ENLACE, which encourages Latino students to think about college at an early age.

Davis and Upward Bound's supporters, however, say those don't match the program's history, breadth and dormitory experience its students get.

Some worry that fewer minority students may enroll in college because of that, particularly young black men, whose numbers at the freshman level already have dwindled at USF and at colleges nationwide.

"I'm still sick about this," said Sam Wright Sr., an associate dean in USF's student affairs office and a former minority recruiter for the university.

Other college outreach leaders at USF agree the loss of the program is devastating.

"ENLACE is a great program, but the kind of outreach we do is minimal compared to Upward Bound," said Norma Cano-Alvarez, an ENLACE coordinator.

USF's Upward Bound program serves about 130 students in 10th through 12th grade annually. About 55 high school seniors in the program enter college every year.

The students come from high schools where at least half the enrollment receives free or reduced-price lunches, and they typically are the first in their families to go to college. Students apply to the program and must maintain a 2.4 grade-point average to stay in.

When they complete Upward Bound, most enroll in four-year colleges. Jonovan Stafford, 17, completed the program this year, having graduated from Hillsborough High School with 4.43 GPA, weighted with advanced course work.

He was accepted into all his favored colleges: Duke University, Morehouse College in Atlanta, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Central Florida.

He longed to enroll in Morehouse, which he visited on a school spring-break trip. Without Upward Bound, Stafford said, "I wouldn't have even heard of Morehouse."

He begins at UCF next fall, where all his expenses will be covered. Meanwhile, he volunteers in the program, making copies for teachers and delivering books to students.

Still Hopeful

In the absence of mentoring, Upward Bound leaders at USF will deliver checklists to families before the end of the summer, reminding them of test dates, financial aid deadlines and other school information for the upcoming year.

Davis still is hopeful that somebody or some group will come through with the needed money, or that Congress will renew funding, as a committee considered last week. The U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor on Wednesday approved a measure that would restore $120 million to some Upward Bound programs that lost funding, including USF's. The full House takes action next.

For now, however, Davis hopes that high schools will provide the same guidance as Upward Bound. Because they're overstretched and overworked, however, "we know they won't," he said.

"I'm still believing that something positive is going to happen."

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.