Loss of Upward Bound Funds Threatens Low-Income Students at 3 L.A. Colleges

About 350 high school students, most of them Latinos, may find it harder to reach college since the U.S. Department of Education denied funding for three Upward Bound college preparation programs in Los Angeles County.

UCLA, Cal State Northridge and East Los Angeles College are appealing to retain funding for their long-established programs, which target students in specific high schools across the county. Upward Bound provides academic tutoring and guidance counseling to low-income students who hope to become the first in their families to attend college.

“It’s so tragic. . . . These programs have helped countless students,” said Bonnie Talakte, director of UCLA’s 26-year-old program. Her 130 students, 75% of them Latino, are recruited from areas of Los Angeles hard hit by the riots, including Jordan High School in Watts and Compton High School.

“This same proposal has been funded four times before,” said an incensed Roberto Zuniga, director of East Los Angeles College’s 150-student, 95% Latino program, which received $407,000 last year. “The need hasn’t changed that much. In fact, it’s increased.”

Upward Bound targets low-income high school students who are struggling academically but who have shown promise.

The heart of the programs is an intensive summer session, during which students live on campus and take classes while improving their studying techniques. During the school year, tutors and guidance counselors help the students with their studies, college applications and financial aid forms.

The cancellation of East L.A.’s Upward Bound shocked Zuniga, who said the program over the past 12 years has placed almost all of its graduates in universities or community colleges and was honored just two years ago as one of 10 exemplary programs nationwide. He charged that reviewers ignored crucial information in the application.

The Education Department has rejected two appeals from the college and denies any impropriety. Officials at the agency said East L.A.’s application, which received 61.5 points of a possible 115, was simply not up to standards.

The department, which this year is spending $142 million on 527 Upward Bound programs nationwide, the most ever, also said that these three Los Angeles County programs may have grown overconfident. Program directors at all three colleges admit that they handed in substantially the same application as in previous years.

“Many of these programs that have been funded in the past see their continued funding almost as a given,” said Stephanie Babyak, a department spokeswoman. “Many of the new applicants are hungry for funding and do an outstanding application.”

Students found out about the cancellations shortly before the fall programs were to begin. “It’s a disaster,” said Osvaldo Vargas Jr., 17, a senior at the East Los Angeles Occupational Center. After two years in East L.A. College’s Upward Bound, Vargas said he now receives a smattering of A’s on his report card--compared to the Ds and Fs he used to get.

“Now that it’s gone, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “And I was hoping my little brother would have a chance to go through this.”

9 GET FUNDS

A number of area college campuses are receiving funding this year for Upward Bound programs, U.S. Education Department officials said. They include USC, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Occidental College, Harvey Mudd College, Compton College and Southwest College. Volunteers of America, a nonprofit organization, also operates a program in downtown Los Angeles.