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"Children participating in the Hannah Project's 'Freedom School' in Marin City this summer are being taught that poverty is not a fact of life that must be grudgingly accepted, but an injustice that must be corrected. The Freedom School, a summer enrichment program at the Hannah Project, was created by the Washington D.C.-based Children's Defense Fund to encourage reading and to build leadership skills."

"Low-income schools with high minority student populations tend to opt for severe punishments over medical or psychological interventions when dealing with behavioral problems, according to a new study by a sociologist at Pennsylvania State."

"The University of Georgia has received a $1.1 million federal grant to help first-generation and low-income students on its campus. The grant is part of the U.S. Department of Education TRIO Student Support Services program that provides services to students from disadvantaged backgrounds at colleges across the country, and will be distributed over the next five years."

"A controversial state program that uses taxpayer money to provide scholarships at private schools does not violate the state constitution's provisions on funding for public education, the N.C. Supreme Court said in a 4-3 decision on Thursday. North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarships program provides grants of up to $4,200 each to help low-income families send their children to private schools. This past year, they were given to 1,878 students, including some attending private schools in Fayetteville."

Although the average income of older Americans has grown rapidly over recent decades, 6.5 million adults ages 65 and older—14 percent of the older population—do not have enough income to meet their needs.

"But there's a potential downside to that college job. Just like parental income, student earnings may boost expected family contribution, a figure which represents what a family is expected to pay for one year of college. And students who over-earn may see a chunk of need-based aid removed from the next year's financial aid package."

"The percentage of low-income students who met college-readiness benchmarks on the ACT exam last year remained flat from the year before, according to a report released this week by ACT Inc. and a national education group."

"A new report about college-going nationwide underscores how much financial aid is available to low-income families, yet shows that many do not take advantage of it. According to the report by the Urban Institute, 'low-income, first-generation and minority families are particularly vulnerable to misconceptions concerning college costs.' If these families were made more aware of how feasible it is to go to college, they might be more likely to go, according to the report."

"A new report from ACT, Inc. shows that 96 percent of its low-income test-takers plan to go to college, yet most are not prepared to succeed at college-level work."

"More low-income students than ever took the test in 2014, according to the report, and a high level of them expressed a plan to attend college. But the bad news: performance by low-income students on the test remained stagnant for a fifth straight year."

"The Educational Opportunity Fund, the state's nearly half-century-old program providing both personal support and financial aid for low-income students entering college, rarely gets a shout-out especially when it actually sees a funding increase."

"According to a Gallup Poll of millennials, college affordability is the top financial concern, and with good reason: The class of 2015 graduated with an average of $35,051 in debt, an all-time high. Underscoring the sense of urgency, 70 percent of graduating students leave college with debt."