Students enrolled in Student support Service programs are not only provided with academic counseling and personal support from professionals familiar with the difficulties low-income and minority students encounter on campus, but also with tutoring and remedial instruction to assist them in overcoming difficulties they may experience as a result of poor academic preparation. Talent Search counselors work with students and their parents, to encourage them to consider college, to make sure they are enrolled in college preparatory programs, and to assist them in completing admissions and financial aid applications. Historically, Talent Search programs have concentrated their resources on juniors and seniors in high school. However, in response to many recent studies pointing out the need for earlier intervention, the Secretary of Education, in 1989, began encouraging Talent search projects to begin their efforts at the seventh grade level. Beginning in 1991, all funded Talent Search projects have middle school components.
Students receive instruction in literature, composition, mathematics and science.
Instruction is scheduled both after school and on Saturdays during the academic year and in the summer when the students reside on campus and attend classes on a full-time basis at the host college. In the summer of 1991, the Department of Education began a special initiative to establish regional Upward Bound Mathematics and Science Centers at 29 sponsoring colleges and universities throughout the country. In addition to the traditional instruction offered in mathematics and science by Upward Bound, these regional centers will stress mentoring by professionals working in the sciences and research opportunities for the low-income and minority high school students enrolled.