California has blazed a new trail in guaranteeing state residents access to higher education by setting up the largest state financial aid program in the country. The program will add $1.2 billion annually to its Cal Grant state scholarship programs--with the bulk of the additional funding targeted at students who have the grades but not the means to attend college.

On Sept. 9, Gov. Gray Davis signed into law a bill, introduced by Democrats in the Legislature, that calls for expansion of the Cal Grant programs. The cash infusion will guarantee awards to nearly one out of three California high school graduates and make it possible for thousands of low- and moderate-income families to afford college. The governor also signed a bill providing $118 million for a new state merit scholarship program, offering scholarships of up to $2,500 to students who excel in math and science.

"These bills say to California students, if you do your part by studying hard, we'll do our part to help you afford college," Davis said.

The Cal Grant A program will award scholarships to high school seniors who have a ÒBÓ average and meet family-income guidelines ($64,100 annual income for a family of four). The maximum awards cover full tuition at California state universities and the University of California or $9,708 for tuition at private universities in California. The "Cal Grant B" program is earmarked for lower-income families and open to high school seniors who have a "C" average or better. Students from a family of four earning no more than $33,700 can attend a community college (where tuition charges are nominal) and receive $1,551 for costs associated with studies, such as books and transportation. Students who meet the tighter income guidelines and attend a four-year school under the Cal Grant A program also can receive the $1,551 extra assistance after their freshman year.

The new money, which will be funded from the state's $12 billion surplus, means that about 144,000 additional students are expected to receive help through Cal Grants when the expansion is complete in 2006-07, the state Student Aid Commission reports. In the current school year, there were 133,000 eligible Cal Grant applicants. Of those, 77,600 received awards before the money dried up.

"The grants will make a difference. Many students today are eligible, but the money runs out," says Marty Hittelman, senior vice president of the California Federation of Teachers and a member of the faculty at Los Angeles Valley College. In terms of higher ed capacity, Hittelman notes that the state's community colleges are likely to be the institutions most called upon to satisfy the increase of students stemming from the Cal Grant expansion.

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Commercialism in schools is on the rise, but few states have enacted laws to try to control the practice, according to a new report from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO).

The commercial activities span a wide range, from free computers that show advertisements to exclusive contracts between districts and soft drink companies, to curriculum materials that mention product names. The GAO report, which is the first nationwide analysis of the trend, found that only 19 states have laws that deal with school-related commercial activities, and most of these laws address only a specific activity, such as advertising on school buses.

High schools, in particular, have become a lucrative target market for advertisers. And school districts seeking more money for programs or equipment are willing partners. Some commercial endeavors have been around for years. Channel One, which provides TVs, VCRs and a satellite dish in return for agreement that recipient schools will show a daily program with 10 minutes of news and two minutes of commercials, has been around for 10 years and is now in about a quarter of the nation's middle and high schools. A newer entrant into the school market is Zap Me, a company that provides schools with free Internet access and computers that flash ads continuously on the screen.

Some recent criticism targets the growth of exclusive school contracts with soft drink companies. The companies provide money to districts in exchange for the sole right to sell their products in campus vending machines and cafeterias. At last summer's AFT convention, delegates passed a resolution that promotes "the use of methods of fundraising that don't force schools to choose between important extracurricular programs and healthy students." To counter students' ever-increasing consumption of empty calories, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and five leading medical associations recently called on schools to ban vending machines and junk food in school cafeterias as part of an effort to fight what they call an "epidemic of 4.7 million youths, ages 6 to 17, who are overweight or obese."