Program for low-income teens suspended due to changed rule

Students from all over Indiana participating in the Upward Bound Project will not be enjoying the Bloomington campus for a few years.

This year will be the last for the Upward Bound Project to be hosted on the Bloomington campus, at least until the next cycle to apply for grants starts. The decision to halt the program was made by Edwardo Rhodes, associate vice president for Academic Support and Diversity, and other IU officials because they were concerned with new federal regulations created and immediately thrown out just before the grant applications were due, Rhodes said.

The new criteria stated that out of the 150 Upward Bound students, half would be randomly chosen by federal officials who had no knowledge of the students’ backgrounds, Rhodes said. The other half would be a “control group” and receive no program benefits. He also said the new rule was supposed to evaluate the efficiency of Upward Bound Project – however, Rhodes and other IU officials were skeptical of the intentions of this new guideline.

“It’s a shame that the program won’t be continuing for a few years but the decision was made to protect the kids since the new federal law for Upward Bound was disingenuous,” Rhodes said. “I had mixed emotions about this and made the final decision that we could not support this program if it will put participating students in unfair situations.”

The students in Upward Bound are high-school students from throughout Indiana. In the federally funded program, prospective members must meet certain criteria that demonstrate they are from low-income, disadvantaged families, said Upward Bound Project Director Marshal Chaifetz. This year’s program, from June 21 to Aug. 2, is the ninth year for the program to take place on the Bloomington campus, Chaifetz said.

The program is a year-round event – however, the summer program lasts only six weeks. During their stay the students go on field trips, listen to guest speakers and take diverse classes such as math, English and foreign language courses taught by IU instructors. Also, the students are given a chance to experience a tiny portion of college life while they are away from their homes and parents.

“I’ve worked with more than 300 students in the past years and these kids who come from unfortunate backgrounds and places have a lot of fun and learn a lot from this six week program,” Chaifetz said.

Rhodes said he wanted to substitute the traditional Upward Bound program with an Upward Bound Math-Science program because the new criteria would be disregarded for it. However, there was not enough time to write eight different grants for the IU campuses in time to meet all the application deadlines, Rhodes said.

“We literally had about four weeks to complete these grant applications, but you need to understand that we had to submit numerous pages of evaluations and different information for all eight campuses,” Rhodes said. “We just didn’t have enough time.”

Chaifetz said it was unfortunate that the program would have to be suspended for a few years because it was such a great opportunity for many disadvantaged students.

Upward Bound Resident Assistant Charles Henderson, a former program participant, said he was disappointed that the program won’t continue because he knows many students were able to go to college through this program.

However, Rhodes said the controversial criteria was recently taken out of the original program, so when the next cycle starts IU might be able to host both the Upward Bound project and the science and math program because there will be enough time until then to gather all the necessary information to apply for the grants.

“I’m sorry to see it go now, but I hope to see it come back bigger and stronger,” Rhodes said.