The following are two stories about the U.S. Department of Education’s Upward Bound program:

Maine Colleges to Get More than $2M in Upward Bound Funds

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Four Maine colleges and universities will receive more than $2.1 million in federal funding to help disadvantaged students pursue higher education.

The money is coming through the U.S. Department of Education's Upward Bound program. The recipients are the University of Maine System, University of Southern Maine, University of Maine at Farmington and Bowdoin College.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, say the grants will allow the schools to provide assistance to hundreds of high school students around Maine. The recipients will include low-income and first-generation students.

Hinds Community College Gets $5.1M Upward Bound Grant

RAYMOND, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi community college is getting more than $5 million to return the Upward Bound program to one of its campuses.

Four Upward Bound programs at the Utica Campus of Hinds Community College will help at least 240 students from eight high schools prepare for college, according to a news release.

They will target students from low-income families, potential first-generation college students and students with a high risk of academic failure.

"As a product of the Upward Bound program that was once on the Utica Campus, I truly understand the importance of the program, so it was my goal while writing the grants to include as many schools and students that I could," said Dr. Mitchell Shears, executive director of Title III & Sponsored Grants. He said the school's last Upward Bound program ended in 2012.

The U.S. Department of Education will pay the $5.1 million grant over five years.

The programs will go through the school year and six weeks in summer. They'll provide instruction in mathematics, laboratory sciences, composition, literature, foreign languages and other educational and cultural experiences.

The program will work with these high schools: Crystal Springs, Hazlehurst, Raymond, Terry, Vicksburg, Warren Central, Forest Hill in Jackson and Wingfield in Jackson.

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