College Aid Plan Widens U.S. Role in High Schools

When Republican senators quietly tucked a major new student aid program into the 774-page budget bill last month, they not only approved a five-year, $3.75 billion initiative. They also set up what could be an important shift in American education: for the first time the federal government will rate the academic rigor of the nation’s 18,000 high schools.

The measure, backed by the Bush administration and expected to pass the House when it returns next month, would provide $750 to $1,300 grants to low-income college freshmen and sophomores who have completed "a rigorous secondary school program of study" and larger amounts to juniors and seniors majoring in math, science and other critical fields.

By SAM DILLON

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/education/22grants.html?hp&ex=1137992400&en=81cd1a4fda833059&ei=5094&partner=homepage