Department Office Eastside Campus Felix H. Morales Building # 237 Phone: (713) 718-7004 Fax: (713) 718-7060 Maude Ferguson, Ed.D Director maude.ferguson@hccs.edu Deborah Decoteau Secretary deborah.decoteau@hccs.edu

Upward Bound at a Glance

Upward Bound, a part of the TRIO federally funded programs, helps young people prepare for higher education. Participants receive instruction in literature, composition, foreign languages, mathematics, and science on college campuses. Currently, 772 programs are in operation throughout the United States .

Upward Bound members participate in Saturday academic classes, six-week summer academic classes, field trips and cultural enrichment experiences throughout the year.

Students who qualify for the Upward Bound Program:

• Are the first in their family to earn a college degree, and/or
• Meet the economic guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Education.

Upward Bound offers young people the opportunity to reach their individual goals and to carve their productive role in society.

Enrichment Activities

Students take field trips to area museums, college campuses, theater or opera productions, and selected restaurants.

Summer enrichment includes career orientation which brings students together with successful business and professional persons for an informal introduction to career options.

While student financial aid programs help students overcome financial barriers to higher education, TRIO Programs help students overcome social, academic, and cultural barriers to higher education.

Student Eligibility

As mandated by Congress, two-thirds of the students served must come from families with incomes under $25,050 (family of four) and neither parent has graduated from college. Over 1,750 TRIO Programs currently serve nearly 700,000 low-income Americans.

Forty-two percent (42%) of TRIO students are White, 35% are African American, 15% are Hispanic, 4% are Native American, 4% are Asian. Disabled TRIO students number sixteen thousand.

Evidence of Achievement

• Upward Bound students are four times more likely to earn an undergraduate degree than those students from similar backgrounds who are not participants in TRIO.
• Nearly 20% of all Black and Hispanic college freshmen in 1981 received assistance through TRIO Talent Search or EOC programs.
• Students in the TRIO Student Support Services programs are more than twice as likely to remain in college than those students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in the program.

The Need for Upward Bound

• To create a real opportunity society
• To address invisible barriers (cultural, academic, class, social)

Characteristics of Upward Bound

• Upward Bound provides opportunity, not maintenance of poverty.
• Upward Bound is integrated into the higher education system.
• Upward Bound provides tools and orientation to move individuals to economic independence.
• Upward Bound serves to improve higher education and make it more reflective of society.
• Upward Bound focuses on attainment of a college degree, not artificial assistance or support.

Application Process

A student may apply to the program by submitting an application directly to Upward Bound, or may be referred by a guidance counselor from one or our target high schools in the Houston Independent School District . The target schools are Chavez, Jones, Milby, Sterling , and Worthing.