Tips for parents on how to help their children prepare for college will be among the topics explored tonight in the U.S. Department of Education's monthly TV show, Education News Parents Can Use, in a program entitled, "Higher Education: Ensuring America's Competitive Edge."

The program will be carried from 8 to 9 p.m. ET Tuesday on the Dish Network, dozens of PBS stations and numerous cable outlets. Others, including The Learning Channel, will broadcast the show on a tape-delayed basis. A complete listing of viewing options is available at www.ed.gov/edtv. In addition, the program will be available as an archived webcast at www.connectlive.com/events/ednews/.

This program will examine:

• Why is a college education more important than ever before? What federal, state and local strategies are helping us to meet this demand?

• When should parents and students start thinking about saving for college, and what programs and resources are available to help?

• How can we help students, especially minority youth, prepare for and succeed in college?

• How accessible is higher education? And how can we make it more affordable?

• How are the Commission on the Future of Higher Education's final report and the Secretary's Action Plan improving the accessibility, affordability and accountability of U.S. colleges and universities?

Guests include Sara Martinez Tucker, under secretary of education and the U.S. Department of Education's top higher education official. As under secretary, she oversees all activities related to postsecondary education, vocational and adult education and federal student aid.

Also appearing will be Michele Brown with the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office; Odette Duggan with the College Board in New York; Frank Alvarez, president of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund; Maria Torres-Flores, principal at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles; and Barbara Smith with Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), a fourth- through twelfth-grade system to prepare students in the academic middle for four-year college eligibility.

The Education News Parents Can Use TV series airs monthly during the school year.

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