Federal funding in limbo for Upward Bound

Upward Bound professional staff and student employees at CSB+SJU are cautiously continuing their work as federal budget cuts that were proposed last week could eliminate the program.

President Trump’s budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year, if approved by Congress, would end the Upward Bound Program after 30 years of existence at CSB+SJU.

“Through the program at CSB+SJU, over 230 students have been served throughout their entire high school duration. They are outperforming their peers who did not receive services by almost a 2:1 ratio. We are not only losing a legacy, but important services for low- income students,” said Alexandra Scheibelhut, CSB+SJU’s Upward Bound program director.

The Upward Bound program seeks to prepare high school students from low-income backgrounds and students who will be first generation college students with the skills and confidence necessary to graduate high school and then college, according to the CSB+SJU website. High school students who are enrolled in the Upward Bound program attend weekly tutoring sessions, go on college tours and take six weeks of learning enrichment classes over the summer break, according to Upward Bound tutor mentor Rachel Erben.

Upward Bound receives grant funding from the federal government as a federal TRiO program. The TRiO program began in the summer of 1965 after the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act and is a federal outreach program intended to provide services for students of disadvantaged communities. CSB+SJU’s grant includes funding for approximately 60 high school students.

In a budget proposal released by the Trump administration last Friday, all funding for TRiO programs would be eliminated. The Trump administration noted in the proposed budget that the TRiO program is “a relic of the past” and that “access to college is not the obstacle it was for students of limited means.”

“This is the first time that TRiO has been called by name as a program that is being targeted. The dollar amount set to be cut in the budget is the exact amount we are supposed to receive each year,” Scheibelhut said. “There’s overall messaging that the federal government doesn’t believe that they should have a responsibility in equipping students with the resources to get to and through college. The federal government believes that should be the family’s role, and they are looking to cut programs that look to fill that role.”

Bennies and Johnnies working for Upward Bound as tutors and mentors are now navigating these uncertainties and rapid changes to federal programs together.

“This is not the first scare we’ve had about funding being cut. Back in January, they sounded the warning about that,” Erben said.

Erben said the hardest part is knowing what to tell the high school students she mentors.

“They [the Upward Bound professional staff] told us ‘there might be some changes.’ They kind of talked to us about the future but we’re all kind of like, I don’t know if we should tell the kids right now because it’s not certain. It really affects the kids; that’s the most frustrating part of it,” Erben said.

As a mentor tutor with Upward Bound for the past four years, Erben sees the positive impacts the program plays in high school students’ lives.

“For a lot of students there might be a lot going on in their lives outside of school. A lot of students have a lot of extra responsibility including caregiving roles for younger siblings or for parents and grandparents, and then jobs. So Upward Bound could really be a positive place,” Erben said.

The CSB+SJU Upward Bound program serves four area high schools: Apollo High School, Tech High School, Willmar High School and Sauk Rapids High School, said Erben.

Each summer, Aurora Hall houses Upward Bound students as they get a taste of the college experience as high school students.

“The idea of that is they kind of pretend like they’re at college. They live with a roommate in dorms on our campus and then take classes. So, it’s kind of mimicking what college might be like,” Erben said.

In the program’s 30-year history at CSB, 88% of Upward Bound graduates began college, and program participants are four times more likely to graduate college as compared to students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in Upward Bound, notes the CSB+SJU website. Summer sessions at colleges and campus tours get Upward Bound participants more familiar with what it would be like to attend a four-year university.

“The idea is to get as much college exposure for high school students as possible, because for a lot of them, members of their family didn’t go to college. So, it might be kind of a new daunting experience,” Erben said.

Scheibelhut worries about the immediate and long-term impacts that budget cuts will have on the program.

“If the budget proposal passes, we would almost immediately cease to exist. There are currently 61 students in St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids- Rice and Willmar area that would lose tutoring and advising that helps them overcome individual educational challenges that they wouldn’t regularly have the resources to access,” Scheibelhut said.

Though federal budget cuts threaten its operations, the Upward Bound program is continuing to run as normal. Program directors are continuing to monitor the situation as changes happen on the federal level.