Calif. State University, Chico Upward Bound Projects

Fact Sheet

The Upward Bound for English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) Learners serves fifty participants in four Northern California counties: Butte, Colusa, Tehama and Yuba. The project was first funded in 1995. For more information regarding Upward Bound's purpose and history, click here.

Participant Eligibility

At least two-thirds of the participants must be both
· low-income (family income within 150% of poverty--see "Low-Income Levels "below)
· a potential first generation college student (neither parent with whom the student resides has a four-year college degree)
The other one-third of the participants can be either low-income or first generation college.
Applicants must also be the following:
· a citizen, national or permanent resident (must have a Green Card)
· ages 13 to 19 (grades 9-11 at the time of selection). 8th graders are eligible to apply.
· attending one of the following schools or planning to enroll in one of the following
schools:

Colusa H.S.	Lindhurst H.S.	Oroville H.S
Las Plumas H.S.	Los Molinos H.S.	Red Bluff H.S

Annual Low-Income Levels for Participant Eligibility:

Size of Family Unit Be Less Than

1	$14,355
2	$19,245
3	$24,135
4	$29,025
5	$33,915
6	$38,805
7	$43,645
8	$48,585

For family units with more than 8 members, add $4,890 for each additional family member

Profile of an ESL Upward Bounder:

There have been 148 participants accepted by Upward Bound for ESL Learners since 1998. Of those participants:

the mean age is 15
the mean grade level is sophomore
the mean GPA is 3.15
the mean reading ability is 1 year below grade level
the mean taxable family income is $4,252 for a family of 7 people
the mean education of the father is grade 5.3

the mean education of the mother is grade 5.0
145 or 97.97% are both low income and first generation
75 or 50.68% are female
73 or 49.32% are male
81 or 54.73% are Southeast Asian
60 or 40.54% are Latino
4 or 2.70% are White
3 or 2.03% are East Indian

The ESL Upward Bound Concept--Chico Style:

The project is located in the Department of Professional Studies in Education (PSED) within the College of Communication and Education. Fiscal management, as with all university grants, is shared between The CSU Chico University Research Foundation, Sponsored Projects and Associated Students Accounting.
The program has two parts: Academic Year and Summer. Academic year services include tutoring, advising, workshops, college visitation field trips, leadership development and college preparation, most of which takes place in the target schools. The summer component includes a six-week residential program on the CSU, Chico campus. Programs include college-classes, internships, enrichment, extra-curricular activities, workshops, leadership development and personal development activities.

Why an ESL Upward Bound?

The staff at the original Upward Bound at California State University, Chico have been frustrated for years in their desire to serve more of the many deserving students in the area. They recognize that in addition to the barriers to higher education faced by native English speaking, first-generation/low-income students in the area, ESL students face far more. The population from non-English speaking households in the target area, not to mention in California, has exploded in size. Therefore, when the opportunity came about to develop a second, separate program, the staff agreed to take on a large challenge in order to benefit more students.

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