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"A federal program for the country's neediest college students is witnessing a troubling trend: an influx of students with fewer resources to pay for school. In its latest report on the Pell Grant program, the Education Department said nearly three-quarters of the 8.6 million students who received the federal grant to attend college last year reported having no savings or other cash on hand. That compares to 60 percent of federal grant recipients five years earlier."

"With few school lunches easily accessible during the summer season, a number of non-profits across the U.S. are providing more meals for low-income children. The Barry Farm Recreation Center is one of many hosting sites across the country. As a venue with an open site policy, meals at the center can go to any kids under the age of 18 who want them."

Most households in the United States find retirement planning a daunting challenge, with good reason.

" Under a new state metric to determine whether public school students are economically disadvantaged, far fewer Massachusetts students will be counted as living in poverty, according to state data. For years Massachusetts has used students' eligibility for free or reduced lunch to measure if students qualified as "low-income." Now, Massachusetts will scrap that method and instead deem students "economically disadvantaged" only if the student participates in one or more specific state-administered social welfare programs: food stamps, foster care, medicaid or transitional assistance for families with dependent children."

"On Monday, the Lumina Foundation came out with a guidebook of strategies for college administrators to improve financial support and completion success for low-income students. Titled 'Beyond Financial Aid,' the publication presents six key strategies to better serve disadvantaged students and highlights promising approaches being used by colleges and universities."

"A new analysis of a decade of state testing data by the Daily Herald and WBEZ reveals that a school's low-income level is a frustratingly accurate predictor of achievement. The results are clear. Schools with the fewest low-income students score the highest on average."

"Massachusetts has scrapped a decades-old method for defining low-income students in public schools, resulting in a dramatic decline in the number considered to be living in poverty, according to a Globe review of state data. Now, less than half of Boston school students are regarded as being from impoverished homes, compared with the previous figure of about three-quarters."

"A Pennsylvania state commission has proposed a funding formula that would send more tax dollars to school districts that serve high numbers of needy children, including those who are poor or who are learning English as a second language. Advocates welcomed the commission's unanimous recommendations as a first step toward fixing Pennsylvania's school funding system, which is the most inequitable in the nation, according to federal data."

"Students whose parents have an income of less than $30,000 may receive a financial aid package to cover 111% of tuition and fees at the University of Minnesota next year, according to a budget proposal presented by University President Eric Kaler at a Board of Regents meeting on June 11, 2015."

"The education savings account law eliminates a number of provisions that have traditionally constrained voucher programs. In other states, it's usually only low-income families, families with disabled students or students in failing schools who can receive the money. In Nevada, everyone can claim state cash, from the richest parents to the poorest. Proponents argue it will help families on all ends of the economic spectrum, but will be felt most by low-income families, who have traditionally been excluded from private schools due to cost."

"New research has now identified how specific patterns of cortisol activity may relate to the cognitive abilities of children in poverty. The study also outlines how greater instability in family environments, including harsh and insensitive caregiving in the context of poverty, may predict these different types of cortisol activity in children."

"[...] The close friends who bond over academic stresses and giant slices of pizza in Adams Morgan, have both won the Gates Millennium Scholarship. [��_] The scholarship, started by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 1999 to remove financial barriers to college for low-income minority students, quickly became a holy grail for students in many urban schools. It covers all college costs, including fees and living expenses, and extends through graduate school in certain fields. Nationwide, 57,000 seniors applied this year, and 1,000 earned free higher education."