PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Maine’s Congressional delegation and alumni of the Upward Bound college readiness program are rallying behind the local University of Maine campus in a bid to continue funding for the program despite an unintentional error in preparing its federal grant application.
The U.S. Department of Education refused to review UMPI’s application for two grants totalling $600,000 under the fiscal year 2017 Upward Bound program because of a formatting issue in the application paperwork.
The Upward Bound Program at UMPI serves more than 100 high school students across Aroostook County who are entering college often for the first time in their families and from lower-income backgrounds. The program serves students at UMPI as well as in the St. John Valley at the University of Maine Fort Kent and in southern Aroostook County through the Houlton Higher Education Center.
The university’s 65-page application included two graphics with 1.5 line-spacing instead of the mandatory double spacing, which the agency cited as grounds for not considering the application for funding.
U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representatives Bruce Poliquin and Chellie Pingree have formally asked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to allow the formatting to be corrected in order for the funding process to move forward.
“To deny UMPI’s application a reading because two figures do not meet an arbitrary typographical format ignores the spirit of the Upward Bound Program, is antithetical to congressional intent, and would seriously jeopardize the future success of hundreds of students in Maine,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to DeVos. “We strongly urge the Department to apply some common sense to the Upward Bound Program competition and read and score UMPI’s applications.”
Upward Bound alumni and parents of students are also writing to the Department of Education to urge the agency to allow the application to be amended. Two Upward Bound beneficiaries, Sam Portera, an UMPI graduate, and Brandon Hosford, a current student at the University of Maine Fort Kent, recently helped gather 1,200 letters from supporters to mail to the Department of Education.
“I saw this as an opportunity to get my life on track,” said Hosford, a graduate of Easton High School who is majoring in computer science at UMFK. “Before Upward Bound, I didn’t see college as part of the plan…I would not have made it to where I am without Upward Bound pushing me to do my best and stay focused.”
Upward Bound includes a residential summer program where students live on campus for up to six weeks taking enrichment courses, classes for credit and participating in work experience to prepare for college.
