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"California expenditures on such students over five years totaled $480 million, report says. Many students are ill-prepared for college, get too little support and aren't helped by remediation, the study notes."

"For the first time in at least 10 years, Elmhurst's Conrad Fischer Elementary School posted a 90 percent passing rate, though it faces challenges uncommon in some other affluent school districts. Fischer has the highest percentage of low-income students among District 205 schools."

"Georgia officials are hoping for a $70 million federal cash prize aimed at improving school readiness for the state's 825,000 youngest children, especially the 54 percent identified as low income."

"That didn't last long. About 55 million Social Security recipients will get their first increase in benefits next year since 2009 -- a 3.6 percent raise. But higher Medicare premiums could erase part of it."

"Some undergraduates such as older adults seeking a non-traditional education can borrow up to $57,500 in federal Stafford loans. The maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students is $5,550 this academic year, up from $4,050 five years ago."

"Organized by the conservative American Action Network, this national campaign is a thinly veiled attempt by the big drug companies to keep a loophole in federal law that results in taxpayers paying billions more per year than necessary for Medicare prescriptions for low-income seniors. "

"Rowen, which educates 450 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, is ahead of many city neighborhood schools; it met state standards and made 'Adequate Yearly Progress' for several years running. But 83 percent of its students are considered low income, and the school lost 15 staffers to the Philadelphia School District's $629 million budget gap this year."

"Federal lawmakers said during a national town hall meeting Wednesday that they are working to help foster children succeed in school, citing dismal statistics including a 50 percent graduation rate among foster youths."

"Rural populations tend to be low-income, elderly and disabled, and many small-town residents receive their prescription medications by mail. They worry that if their post office were to close, they would have to drive to the closest town with a post office or pay a neighbor to make the trip."

"Seventeen of the units were set aside for public-housing tenants and applicants, and 43 are low-income-housing tax credit units. 'I'm very happy here. I was living with my son before and that was fine, but this is my own space,' said Florine Magee, a resident in the senior-citizen building..."

"The students are overwhelmingly low-income Latinos, many of them children of immigrants who did not finish high school and work in blue-collar jobs. But several said those hardships have motivated them to aim for academic success."

"Stress must be a constant companion when you're 90 years old, poor and homeless, and you've been driving - heaven help us, Barnes still drives - all over the city looking for an affordable, safe place to lay your weary head."