Government grants for high school students

Did you know that high school students from grade 9-11 can earn stipend by attending after school tutoring? The rewarding program I am talking about is called TRIO Upward Bound.  The program is sponsor by U.S Department of Education, the same government department that gives students Financial Aid (loan, grant, work study) to pay for college tuitions and books.  The goal is to prepare high school students for college. Upward Bound staffs direct after school and summer tutor sessions, mentor students, take students on field trips to visit colleges and universities,  and request free waivers for all  participants when they take college entrance tests.  The staffs believe that by going above and beyond for students, they can motivate them to stay in school. The participants all come from low-income families. Before they can enter the program, they must fill out many forms and pass the interview.  I enrolled into Upward Bound when I was a sophomore in high school.  My tutor coordinator was very hard on me because she believed in me.  She checked my report cards, allowed me to borrow study guides, and most important of all she was always available when I needed someone to talk to.  Upward Bound staffs paid for my first two classes in college and helped me with applying for college grants.  Upward Bound staffs even hired me for the work study.  It was very fortunate for me that there was Upward Bound program at my high school.  I earned $70 each month for going to tutoring.  I rarely missed a day. The staffs were very kind. In the summers, the staffs hosted their program at the college.  They provided us with wholesome school lunches and took us on career field trips every Friday.

Because I worked for the Upward Bound as student assistance for two years, I know how hard it is to run the program.  In order for there to be Upward Bounds, the directors had to attend workshops, write goal statements and proposals describing the program to Department of Education.  Writing requests for grants, take at least one month.  Once in a while the auditors hired by the government came to the office unannounced and performed audits to check if the director was telling the truth and if the program and the office were in tip top shapes or not. Everything in the office had to be audit ready.  My main job descriptions were to file papers into the budget books, worked with the database, and made sure that application, report cards, and all correspondences were there in the office.  Some time, I had to count all the assets belonging to Upward Bound. Sometime, I had to organize folders. And I had to make photocopy of everything that were Upward Bound related.   A couple of year ago, my director almost ran into trouble with the Department of Education because some of his participants were illegal immigrants.  Luckily, he was able to resolve that situation before there was an audit.  All papers in the office must be kept confidential and cabinets had to be locked at all time.  With the government grants the director can hire tutors, student coordinator, student support specialists, office staffs, and other people who are specialized with different projects.  Some time my director hired staffs to do accounting for the office.  One time, we had a counselor in the program.

I heard that a couple of years ago, the government wanted to dissolve the program because they thought that the program required the government to spend too much money.  I agree that running a big and impressive program like requires the government officials to take a lot of money out of their pockets.  The directors use the grant to hire employees and tutors, advertise, buy office supplies and school supplies, and pay stipends to students.  There is no way that any business can grow without people taking time out to recruit people.  A percent of the budget went into buying promotion items and paying people for gas because they traveled to promotional events.  Also, how can the directors take the students on local and national field trips without any money?  By law, the participants in the programs do not have pay for any of the services.

Upward Bound is all about creating good impressions for everyone to see.  All the UB staffs have high level college degrees and possess consummate talents in accounting.  The staffs had to be in office at nine o’clock in the morning everyday.  They began their day with either preparing paper works to get the products or services pay for, or checking to see if something had been paid.  Office works are always stressful.  My director had a boss who worked in a different office.   In order to get something done, he had to go through his boss, his staffs, the accountants at the college, and sometime even the high school counselors.  I’m glad that Upward Bound is still standing strong and is not about to collapse anytime soon.  I don’t think the participants realize how lucky they are, and how hard UB directors and staffs work to keep the program running efficiently.

http://www.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/index.html

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