The University of Notre Dame has received a grant for more than $2.6 million from the U.S. Department of Education to continue support of South Bend Community School Corp. students with access to higher education. The grant was awarded to Notre Dame Upward Bound, one of the University’s two TRIO programs that help low-income local high school students in their preparation for college.
Launched by former University President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., in 1966, Notre Dame Upward Bound is one of the oldest and most successful college preparatory programs of its kind in the nation. To date, the program has helped more than 2,000 area students successfully graduate from high school and go on to pursue a college degree.
In 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act established Upward Bound as a pilot program in response to the War on Poverty. As one of the federal TRIO Programs, Upward Bound is an intensive intervention program that prepares students for higher education through various enrichment courses. At least two-thirds of the students in Upward Bound are from low-income backgrounds and families in which neither parent has a bachelor’s degree. It recognizes that students whose parents do not have a college degree have more difficulty navigating the complex decisions that college requires, bolsters students from low-income families who have not had the academic opportunities that their peers have had, and helps remove obstacles preventing students from thriving academically.
Campus-based Upward Bound programs provide students instruction in literature, composition, mathematics, science and foreign language during the school year and the summer. Upward Bound also provides intensive tutoring, mentoring and support for students as they prepare for college entrance exams and tackle admission applications, financial aid and scholarship forms.
For more information about Notre Dame’s TRIO programs, visit trio.nd.edu.
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on July 07, 2022.