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"We teach and prepare thousands of young people to enter our state universities. We are given the opportunity to teach kids from low-income, single-parent families and to convince those that we teach that they are worthy of a college education!"

"'We like to think success is about merit, but it's also about access -- and we can change that, if we choose,' said Karen G. Foley, president of Chicago Scholars, the program that nurtures low-income college-goers, giving them the tools to achieve their dreams."

"Most of the students at Oyler in Lower Price Hill and at Riverview East in the East End come from low-income families struggling to pay bills. Many come from single-parent households in hard-scrabble neighborhoods. Most Oyler students are urban Appalachian."

""The district's probation data from last school year showed the absence of high-performing schools in neighborhoods with high poverty rates and large numbers of minority students. "

"`It's devastating,' said Shirley McCready, 76, a retiree from Springfield who cleaned restaurants for a living. `I only have one income - that's Social Security. If they start chipping away, what am I going to do? It's just one income, and it's low income, and they're going after us.'"

"Emma Jewel Charter Academy in Cocoa will focus on nutrition and health. It will enroll grades K-6 and eventually grow to K-8, and focus on serving the impoverished Diamond Square community. Viera Charter School will focus on math and science. It will enroll grades K-7 the first year and grow to grades K-8."

"Federal civil rights attorneys have launched an investigation into whether the state is discriminating against students who do not speak English fluently by failing to ensure that new charter schools are equipped to educate the students."

"The law, if passed, would help pay the private-school tuition of low-income public school children who attend the lowest-performing schools and want out. In the second year, it would pay tuition for low-income students in those schools' attendance areas who already attend private schools."

"Over the last 30 years, college costs have risen steadily, especially at four-year public universities, once considered the affordable route to higher education. At such universities, the last decade's increases, adjusted for inflation, have been the steepest."

"Nationally, federal officials have given negative assessments to more than a quarter of Medicare's rated prescription drug plans that will be available to seniors in 2012. And in the Washington metropolitan area, 36 percent score unacceptably low, according to an analysis of Medicare data."

"Around 12 million people are taking advantage of tax benefits averaging more than $1,200. And while recent changes make low-income families better able to take advantage of those credits, a growing proportion of the benefit goes to families earning more than $100,000."

"President Obama will announce new programs Wednesday to lower monthly loan payments for some students graduating next year and thereafter and to let borrowers who have a mix of direct federal loans and loans under the old Federal Family Education Loan Program consolidate them at a slightly lower interest rate."