PROVIDENCE - Due to President Bushs budget cuts more than 11,000 students in Rhode Island are in danger of losing crucial services that provide them with the opportunity to receive a higher education. U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today joined with students and education leaders to urge defeat of President Bushs budget that eliminates higher education financial aid programs including the TRIO Upward Bound program, TRIO Talent Search program and GEAR UP.The President is attempting to correct his financial missteps that created a deficit at the expense of students in Rhode Island and across the nation, Reed stated. These programs provide opportunity and improve education for thousands of students in Rhode Island and help to ensure greater economic success for the state. Reed joined attorney Monica Teixeira de Susa, a 1994 graduate of the Rhode Island College (RIC) Upward Bound Program, Rudylexis Nunez a Providence Academy of International Studies student participant of the Childrens Crusades GEAR UP program, Faicaly Quinones a Woonsocket High School student in the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Rhode Island Educational Talent Search program and Margaret Williams a CCRI student participating in the Bridge to College Program.University of Rhode Island (URI) President Robert Carothers, CCRI President Thomas Sepe RIC President John Nazarian, Commissioner of Higher Education Jack Warner, Dorcas Place President, Brenda Dann-Messier and Rhode Island Children's Crusade CEO Mary Sylvia Harrison also urged defeat of the cuts. The TRIO Upward Bound (UB) program was funded in FY05 at $312 million and provides academic and support services to pre-college 13 to 19 year-olds to help them enroll and graduate from college. The Rhode Island College UB program received $613,878 last year and served 167 students at Central, Hope, Mount Pleasant, Central Falls, East Providence, and Shea High Schools.GEAR UP provides college intervention services to middle and high school students and received $298 million for FY05. The RI Childrens Crusade received $2.2 million as a sixth-year extension of a five-year grant. Last year, the Crusade served 7,305 students from schools with high rates of poverty. The TRIO Talent Search program was funded at $144 million in FY05 and encourages middle and high school students to complete or reenter high school and continue on the path to college enrollment. Based at the Community College of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Educational Talent Search received $462,965 and served 771 students last year.The Bridge to College Program is administered through Dorcas Place and assists low income adults transition to college. The program provides intensive academic, career and college counseling to low income first generation college bound adults and provides funding for their very first college course including tuition, books and supplies to ease that transition. The program is funded through TRIO and GEAR UP.