College Bound, other ed programs on chopping block for '06

by Aimee Hornberger<br>Herald Staff Writer
| June 9, 2005 9:00 PM

After 38 years at Big Bend Community College, College Bound program baffled by cuts

MOSES LAKE — Forty years after the College Bound Program began, it is one of 48 education programs scheduled to be cut from the Federal budget in 2006.

In President George W. Bush's proposal, College Bound, also known nationally as the Upward Bound Program, is federally funded through the Department of Education and has been offered at Big Bend Community College since 1967.

The aim of the program is to offer services for low income and first generation college students.

Funding for College Bound and other programs such as Talent Search, GEAR UP and Smaller Learning Communities will be cut next year. The programs have been deemed by the Bush administration as ineffective in helping secondary students excel academically and professionally over the years, despite increased Federal funding. The services they offer will be consolidated and funding rerouted to alternative intervention strategies. One of the alternative intervention programs the Bush administration is proposing is the High School Intervention Initiative.

The Initiative calls for $1.2 billion to help states in implementing a high school accountability program and intervention strategies to reach high risk students.

As part of the proposal, states will have the option to choose intervention strategies appropriate for their students needs such as vocational education and mentoring programs, and partnerships between high schools and colleges.

However, BBCC College Bound Director Pat Palmerton disagrees with the reasoning behind Bush's proposal to cut funding for College Bound and other programs and consolidate them.

"These programs have been there since the 1960s and we have a real track record of success," Palmerton said.

Part of that track record, he believes, has been in keeping contact with College Bound students after they graduate high school and following up on where they attend college, if they go on to graduate or Ph.D. programs and what type of financial aid they receive.

More specific objectives of the College Bound Program have included keeping high retention rates, ensuring that students stay with the program throughout all four years of high school, graduate and enroll in a college program within one year of graduating from high school.

"We're meeting those kind of outcomes," Palmerton said. "We've held ourselves accountable."

In fiscal years 2004 and 2005, College Bound is budgeted to receive $280 million a year, with no monies being budgeted at this time for 2006.

College Bound currently operates out of seven high schools in the Columbia Basin which include: Moses Lake High School, Warden High School, Royal City High School, Quincy High School, Soap Lake High School, Lake Roosevelt High School and Othello High School. For more information call (509) 793-2013.