UC Davis has received three Educational Talent Search grants totaling $3 million to help California junior high and high school students go to college during the next four years.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded UC Davis the grants. Two of them are continuing grants and the third, covering Siskiyou County, is new this year.

The money will allow the UC Davis Educational Talent Search program to assist seventh through 12th grade students from disadvantaged backgrounds in completing high school and continuing with post-secondary education. The UC Davis program provides counseling, admissions information, college campus tours, scholarship information and a host of other services to more than 2,200 students in Northern California.

ETS Director Sam Blanco said that the program helps students gain admittance into not just UC Davis, but any institution of higher education.

The program has received federal funding for its work in Sacramento, Solano and Yolo counties since it began at UC Davis in 1994, and its Redding grant began in 2002. The program has received private funding for Siskiyou County in the past, but the Department of Education grant will ensure that services for students there will continue for the foreseeable future.

Siskiyou County has the second-lowest average income of 58 California counties, making it a prime target for Educational Talent Search services. And, the area has a high number of potential first-generation college students.

"Students there are very well-prepared academically," said North State Program Director Lianne Boren, "but are going on to post-secondary education at very low rates."

Boren said several factors are aligned against Siskiyou County students. No four-year institutions are located nearby, meaning students need to travel long distances from home to attend college. Also, few parents in the area have college degrees, meaning less encouragement for children to continue their own education.

"The students we serve do not have the guidance or the tools to continue on to higher education," Blanco said.

And the bottom line is financial. Siskiyou County has fallen on hard economic times, leaving little money available to pay university tuition.

The UC Davis program faced stiff competition for its grants. The Department of Education received 1,000 applications and funded only 458. UC Davis is the only California institution to receive three grants. The campus program is one of more than 475 nationwide that serve close to 400,000 students.