Upward Bound (UB) is one of the oldest and largest of the federal college access programs targeted to low-income students and those who would represent the first-generation of college completers in their families. Currently, UB serves more than 60,000 high school students at a cost of about $4,300 per youth and offers an array of academic and college transition support services. While much about the structure of Upward Bound and the services to be offered are prescribed in legislation, little is currently known about the focus or delivery of these services or the extent to which they vary.

Led by Decision Information Resources, Inc, with support from Abt Global, the report addresses this information gap by describing the approaches that Upward Bound projects use to provide core program services—advising, tutoring, academic coursework, college exposure, college entrance exam preparation, college application assistance, and financial aid application assistance.