Abstract
This study looked at Latino students and their satisfaction with the Upward Bound program, a college preparation program offered to low income first generation high school students. More specifically, this study looked at the Latino student’s perception of the program and its effectiveness. This topic derived from the literature stating that the Latino population is increasing; however, most of the population is going straight into the workforce instead of college due to little to no college preparation. Therefore, this study looked at the Upward Bound program specifically. Using a basic qualitative analysis, I analyzed the interviews to find common themes using Yosso’s (2005) lens on Community of Cultural Wealth. Yosso (2005) describes Community of Cultural Wealth as the idea that People of Color have the benefit of wealth due to their second language and culture. The themes found in this study included aspirational capital, social capital, familial capital, and navigational capital. The participants of the study felt that the Upward Bound program gave them enough support to succeed even if they did not know what they wanted to pursue yet. The participants felt that they had a network of people helping them including their families, friends, and program mentors to succeed in their college preparation journey.