WILBERFORCE — Central State University’s Upward Bound Program has received funding of approximately $1.2 million to continue programming for the next five years for high school students.

The funding, from the United States Department of Education, will serve 63 ninth through 12th grade students annually. Upward Bound provides tutoring, college preparatory test-prep, study skills classes and time management classes for lower-income students who would be the first in their families to attend college. Central State’s program targets students at Dayton’s Meadowdale and Thurgood Marshall high schools, in addition to students at Jefferson Township High School.

John Anene, CSU’s Upward Bound Director, said the goal is for the students to graduate from high school and to graduate from college.

“The more they fund these programs, the better for society,” he said.

In the past three years, CSU’s Upward Bound Program has averaged a 92 percent post-secondary enrollment rate, while it has maintained a 100 percent high school graduation rate. Students can enter the program in the ninth through 11th grade. Academic emphasis is placed on core college preparatory courses such as mathematics through pre-calculus, science, foreign language, composition and literature.

CSU’s Upward Bound six-week summer camp started June 5 and will go through Wednesday, July 12.