that the first-generation-college criterion was particularly important because it included non-financial barriers to college access. In other words, it was not an eligibility criteria based solely on financial qualifications, but on the status of the individual's family and the history of that family, which could have been impacted by many factors.
The idea of educational disadvantage has been refined through the years, with Levin (1986) providing a particularly useful conceptualization. For him, these are students who lack the home and community resources that allow them to succeed in more conventional educational settings. Reasons can include poverty, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences, and race. These are the students who have tended to drop-out at higher rates and at earlier times. For the most part, Levin maintained, these are also students who are economically disadvantaged, including minority groups, new immigrants, and the non-English-speaking students.
Although TRIO programs have been important since their inception in helping students who are educationally disadvantaged, they become even more important with the turn of the century and the changing needs of the economy. At this point in time, there is actually a shortage of skilled people for the new information technology jobs. What was reserved for the elites has become common necessity with computerization. Darling-Hammond (1997) indicated that 50 percent of all occupations in the United States will require high-level knowledge and skills within 10 years.
Upward Bound looks specifically to serve students between the ages of about 13 and 19 who have experienced low academic success to date. These are high school students, ordinarily, although some middle school students are eligible and they must come from families where parents have not earned a bachelor's degree. Military veterans with only a high-school education are actually eligible, too...