The Saint Francis University Upward Bound Program is accepting applications from college bound 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students attending public schools throughout Cambria County. Upward Bound is designed to help students prepare for and pursue a college degree following high school graduation.
A federal TRIO Program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Upward Bound has prepared over 2,500 qualifying students for the challenges of college. Continuously funded since 1966, Saint Francis’ Upward Bound Program is one of the oldest Upward Bounds in the U.S.
Provided at no cost to participants, the program offers a wide variety of academic, career, cultural, and social development activities. From September through May students participate in Saturday follow-ups held on Saint Francis’ campus and tutorials held after school in their communities. Additional academic year activities include college visits, SAT cram sessions, FAFSA completion nights, and college fairs. In addition to SAT and college application fee waivers, the staff provides students with assistance completing their college and scholarship applications. Each summer participants lived on the Saint Francis University campus for six weeks, attending academic classes in math, lab sciences, literature, foreign languages, and social sciences. The program also sponsors tutorials, a work-study component, volunteer opportunities, and cultural activities for students.
To qualify for the program, students must either come from a family with a modest income or from a family in which neither parent has a bachelor’s degree.
Ninety-three percent of program graduates enroll in college on average with 76% of alumni earning a college degree within six years of their high school graduation. Among the program’s alumni are physicians, engineers, educators, nurses, lawyers, business people, and physical therapists; they are employed by such companies as Alcoa, Chase Manhattan Bank, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, State Farm, and Mellon Bank.
