(U-WIRE) IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa’s funding to prepare nearly 100 poverty-stricken middle- and high-school students for college, along with the state’s funding for 10,000 such students, is slated to be eliminated under President Bush’s recent budget proposal to Congress.

The cuts would slash $550,000 from the UI’s Upward Bound program and $8.7 million statewide. Nationwide, the cuts would total $460 million, erasing all 1,400 Upward Bound and Talent Search programs. These national programs serve impoverished youth who aspire to attend college by providing tutoring, mentoring services, workshops and summer camps, according to the Department of Education.

“The elimination of these programs would leave many deserving students without a place to go for help in preparing for college,” said Jeanne Meyer, the UI Upward Bound project director.

Pam Ehly, the Iowa City School District director of instruction, said some of the funding could be switched to parts of the No Child Left Behind Act that benefit low-income students.

“Although the loss of programs like Upward Bound would be unfortunate, the money wouldn’t be lost altogether but rather switched to other areas,” she said.

The cuts may also affect UI admissions, which has generally admitted Upward Bound students.

“There’s no doubt from an admissions standpoint that the loss of … programs such as Upward Bound would be significant,” said Michael Barron, the university’s director of Admissions. “The university benefits from the program’s students being well-prepared.”

Because most of the programs are located on college campuses, they provide students with a smooth transition into college life by exposing them to the atmosphere.

“It’s also easier for college institutions to run these programs because they have the academic infrastructure and personnel necessary for the programs to work,” said Susan Trebach, the vice president of communications for the Council for Opportunity in Education, a nonprofit advocacy group that works on behalf of low-income students.

The local School District, in conjunction with the UI, offers some alternative tutoring and mentoring programs available to disadvantaged students, including the Multi-Ethnic Engineering and Science Association, which uses university science and engineering students to tutor local kids in grades five through 12.

The program, which has been in effect for roughly 10 years, draws a crowd of 50 to 130 students every Tuesday night.

“We offer help in all academic areas, from Spanish to physics, and try to help in whatever way possible,” said Victor Rodgers, a UI chemical and biochemical engineering professor.

– Tara Flockhart