Upward Bound (UB) is a year-round, multi-year program designed for high school students who have the potential to succeed in college and could benefit from: tutoring, academic enrichment, pre-college skills development, career counseling, college visits, cultural enrichment and year-round academic and social support. UB provides opportunities for its scholars to succeed in high school and ultimately in college. The goal of UB is to increase the number of scholars that enroll in and graduate from college. There are 770 UB programs in the United States that serve over 56,000 students.

History

In 1968, Upward Bound was established at UMass Dartmouth. Funded entirely by federal TRIO dollars, UB serves a total of 80 students from New Bedford High School, Greater New Bedford Vocational-Tech, Wareham High School and Global Learning Charter High School. As the host institution, UMass Dartmouth provides administrative support, use of the facility and office space.

UB is a federally funded TRIO program. The Federal TRIO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support eligible students to enter and graduate from college. TRIO includes six outreach and support programs that serve and assist eligible students to progress from middle school to high school, high school to college and college to graduate school. Established in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, Upward Bound was the first of the six TRIO programs.