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"When college students come from a lower-income background, the deck is often stacked against them in graduating to the corporate world. Many simply don't understand the culture, let alone what to wear in job interviews or in the workplace. A nonprofit program is teaming up with Florida State College at Jacksonville to help create a pipeline for some of those students to corporate America. Year Up, based in Boston and operating in about a dozen cities, will begin the program Jan. 8 with an office at FSCJ's downtown campus. But efforts are well underway to recruit more businesses to participate in the program."

"All school leaders know that children have to be in school to learn, but fewer are aware that their school's rate of chronic absenteeism can reveal a wealth of information about the school and the community around it. Our new report Building a Better Picture of Poverty: What Chronic Absenteeism and Risk Load Reveal About NYC's Lowest-Income Elementary Schools, demonstrates that schools with persistently high rates of chronic absenteeism face, on average, a higher burden of community- and school-level risks such as child maltreatment, homelessness and teacher turnover. In this way, chronic absenteeism serves as a powerful warning sign to help identify schools and families with the greatest need."

"Students from low-income households are harder to teach, and Illinois has a growing number of them. 1.05 million students come from families whose income makes the kids eligible for free or reduced-price lunches at school, a typical measure of poverty or low-income status for schools. That�s 51�_ percent of the Illinois school population, the first time that figure has ever been over 50 percent."

"Feeding America, a nonprofit organization that runs a network of food banks that help feed more than 37 million people each year, estimates 7 million of that number are elderly residents. Thirty-three percent of Feeding America's client households have at least one member who is age 60 or over, and an estimated 76 percent or 3.9 million households are food insecure. Although exact statistics for elderly residents in Mississippi have not been released, the problem is very real in the Magnolia State."

"Thanks to a digital library program being rolled out in local schools, similar electronic books will soon be a click away for tens of thousands of students. Within the next few weeks, the program will be available at about 30 low-income elementary schools and four specialty programs in Brevard."

"The Alabama Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a challenge to the Alabama Accountability Act. The law provides state income tax credits to help low-income parents cover the cost of private school tuition with priority given to families zoned for schools designated as failing. The court could be the final stop in a long battle over whether the Republican-backed 2013 school legislation is legal and if it was properly approved during a tumultuous 2013 night in the Alabama Legislature."

"The Advance Illinois school report "The State We're In" has some good news for Illinois school, including gains in high school graduation rates in Chicago. But the report overall is not cause for optimism about the state of Illinois' elementary and high schools and the preparedness of Illinois students for the job market that awaits them after graduation. Of particular concern is the academic performance of low-income students, whose reading and math proficiency are alarmingly low."

"The debate and discussion about the recently approved tuition increases has been marked by misinformation. So, let's start off by dispensing two myths. The first myth is that tuition increases will hurt students from lower-income families. In fact, low-income families will have better access to UC Berkeley with the tuition increase than they would without it."

"Student poverty in Gwinnett and across the state, has soared over the past decade, freighting classrooms with hungry, tired and sometimes ill-disciplined students. In 2002, when Oakley moved to Gwinnett, 21 percent of the district's students qualified for free or reduced-price school meals, a common index of poverty. By last year, 55 percent qualified. The suburbs are seeing more of what one local superintendent calls the 'pathologies of poverty,' such as homeless students or those with blurred vision for want of eyeglasses. Students who fall behind can become disruptive, and the wild, unfocused energy can infect a crowded classroom and hinder student achievement."

"For more than a decade, Whitney has been doing the same for students who pass through the various SAEE programs now incorporated under one roof in Lucy Stone Hall on the Livingston Campus. Last spring saw the merger of Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math-Science; the EOF programs of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; the Student Support Services Program; the Ronald E. McNair Program; and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation."

"Colleges and universities in Kentucky have failed to meet some major goals to help boost graduation rates among Black and low-income students, leaving officials scrambling to put an end to the education disparities. Kentucky aimed to drastically increase graduate rates for the 2012-2013 school year but the latest accountability report by the Council of Postsecondary Education revealed that the schools just aren't reaching those goals when it comes to their Black and low-income students."

"Allen County families who meet certain income requirements can apply for prekindergarten educational grants from Indiana's Office of Early Education and Out-of-School Learning. The grant would cover the costs of enrolling children in an approved On My Way Pre-K program in public or private schools, licensed child care centers, licensed homes or registered ministries as long as those programs meet the requirements of a state-approved provider, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration."