GEAR UP, TRIO Officials Mobilize Support to Save College-Access Programs

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With an older brother in prison and a father he hardly knew, the most Ronnie Rice had hoped for was a spot in the military or a job at one of the factories in his hometown of Mobile, Ala. For this borderline high-school student, college wasn't really a consideration.

"If it weren't for Upward Bound, I'd be working at the air-conditioning plant," says Rice, who participated in Upward Bound's Math/Science program while in high school. Now a sophomore psychology major at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Rice is among a coalition of alumni fighting to save federally funded college and career preparatory programs like the one that showed him the importance of an education.

President George W. Bush's proposed 2006 budget calls for the elimination of 48 education programs, including Upward Bound and Talent Search, two …