the premise that we're all created equal is the opening line in our american story, and we don't promise equal outcomes, we strive to deliver equal opportunity. the idea that success does not depend on being born in the wealth or privileged. it depends on effort, you can be born into nothing and work your way into something extraordinary. and a kid that goes to college, maybe like michelle the first in this his or her family, that means everything. the fact is, we had made a commitment as a country to second more of our people to college. michelle, me, maybe a few of you would not be here today. my grandfather wasn't rich, but when he came home from the war he got the chance to study on the gi bill. i grew up with a single mom. she had me when she was 18 years

old. there were a lot of circumstances where that might have waylaid her education for good. but there were structures in place that allowed her then to go on and get a phd. michelle's dad was a shift worker at the city water plant. mom worked as a secretary. they didn't go to college, but there were structures in place that allowed michelle to take advantage of those opportunities. as michelle mentioned our parents and grand parents made sure we knew that we had to work for it. that nobody was going to hand us something. that education was not a passive enterprise. you have to work for it. i told the story of my mother when i was living overseas, she would wake me up before dawn to do a correspondence courses in

english before i went to the other school. i -- i wasn't that happy about it. [ laughter ] >> but with that hard work, but also with scholarships, student loans, and with support programs in place, we were able to go to some of the best colleges in the country even though we didn't have a lot of money. every child in america should have the same chance. so over the last five years, we have worked hard in a variety of ways to improve these -- these, you know, mechanisms to -- to get young people where they need to be, and to knock down barr r barriers that are preventing them from being better prepared. we have called for clearer higher standards in our schools, and 45 states and the district of columbia have answered that goal. we set a goal of training math and science teachers over the

next nine years, and the private sector has already committed to help train 40 thoushs. today the high school dropout rate is the lowest it has been in 40 years, something that is rarely advertiseded. the dropout rate awrong hispanic students by the way has been cut in half over the last decade, but we still have to hire more good teachers and pay them better. we still have to do more training and development and ensure that the curriculums are ones that maximize the chances for students' success. when young people are properly prepared in high school, we have to make sure that they can afford to go to college, so we took on a student loan system that was giving billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks, and we said let's give that directly to students, we were able to double the aid that goes to students, and aide more young

people are earning college degrees than ever before. so we made progress there, but as i have discussed with some of you, we're still going to have to make sure the rising tuition doesn't price the middle class out of an education. the government can't continually subsidize a system where higher education costs are going up faster than inflation. even after all of these steps that we have taken over the last five years, we still have a long way to go to unlock the doors of higher education to more americans and especially lower income americans. we're going to have to make sure they are ready to walk through those doors. the added value of a college diploma has nearly doubled since michelle and i were graduates. unfortunately only 30% of

students enroll right out of high school, and only 9% earn a bachelor's degree. so if -- if we as a nation can expand opportunity and reach out to those young people, and help them not just go to college, but graduate from college or university, it could have a transformtive effect. there is this huge cohort of talent that we're not tapping. what this meeting today tells me is, we have dedicated citizens across the country who are ready to stand up and meet this challenge, and what i want to really do is highlight some of the commitments that have been made here today. so we know that not enough low-income students are taking the steps required to prepare for college. that's why i'm glad the university of chicago, my neighbor, and the place where michelle and i both worked in

the past, is announcing a $10 million college success initiative that will reach 10,000 high schools over the next five years. it's why i mon -- mentor, has committed to matching 20,000 knew students with mentoring in more than 20 states in the next five years. we also know that too many students don't apply to the schools that are right for them. they may sometimes underestimate where they could succeed, where they could go. there may be a mismatch in terms of what their aspirations are, and the nature of what is offered at the school that's close by and they kind of assume well that's -- that's my only option, so uva is going to experiment with new ways to

contact high achieving, low-income students directly. oring nighed -- organizations like the college board will make it easier for moring students to apply to more schools for free. i know sometimes for those of you, you know, in university administrations, the perception may be that a hundred dollars application fee is not a big deal, but for a lot of these students that's enough of a barrier that they just don't end up applying. number 3, we know when it comes to college advising and preparing for tests like the act and sat, low-net income kids are not on a level playing field. you know, we call these standardized tests. they are not standardized. my daughters by the time they

are in 7th grade are already getting all kinds of advice and this and that and the other. the degree of preparation that many of our kids here are getting in advance of actually taking this test tilts the playing field. it's not fair and -- and it has gotten worse. i was telling michelle, you know, when i was taking the sat i just barely remembered to bring a pencil. that's how much preparation i did. [ laughter ] >> but -- but the truth of the matter is, we don't have a level playing field when it comes to so-called standardized tests. so we have a young man here today named lawrence harris, who went to the university of georgia and like a lot of first generation college students it wasn wasn't easy, he had to make

remedial classes, he had to work two part-time jobs, and he had to leave for a while to support his mom and baby brother. he stuck with it, he graduated. but now he has made it his mission to help other young people like him graduate. and today the national college advising corps, the program that placed lawrence in clark central is announcing plans to add 129 more advisors who will serve 80,000 students over the next three years. now finally, we know that once low income students arrive on campus, michelle having spoke eloquently to her own personal experience on this, they often learn even if they were the top of their high school class, they still have a lot of catching up

to do with respect to some of their peers in the classroom. bunker hill community college is addressing this by giving more in-coming students the chance to start catching up over the summer before their freshman year. we have 22 states and the district of columbia who have joined together to increase the number of students who complete college-level math and english their first year. so these are just a sampling of the more than 100 commitments that your organizations and colleges are making here today. and that's an extraordinary first step, but we got more colleges and universities than this around the country. we got more business leaders around the country, and philanthropies around the country, and so we have to think of this as just the beginning. we want to do something like

this again, and we want even more colleges, universities, and businesses, and non-for profits to take part. for folks who are watching this who were not able to be here today. we want you here next time. start thinking about your commitments now. we want you to join us. for those who were able to make commitments today, i want to thank you for doing your part to make better the life of our country. because what you are doing here today means that there are a bunch of young people like troy and like michelle and like me who suddenly may be able to see a whole new world open up before them that they didn't realize was there. so i'll end with a great story that -- that i think speaks to this. there's a former teacher here today named nick airman.

where is nick? all right. so here is nick right here. five years ago nick founded a new york city non-profit called blue engine, and they recruit graduates to work as teaching assistants in public high schools that serve low-income communities. the first group of students to work with those teaching assistants are seniors now. one of them, estavon rodriguez. where is he? there he is. good-looking young guy right here. [ laughter ] >> could not speak a word of english when he moved to the united states from the dominican republic at the age of nine. didn't speak much more by the time he entered 8th grade. today he is one of the top

studen students in his high school, last month he and his classmates put on their wheels sweatshirts, unrolled a banner, and marched down the streets through cheering crowds. you would have thought it was the macy's parade, but the crowds were parents and teachers, and the march was to the post office where they mailed in their college applications. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> and -- and . . . [ applause ] >> and he just heard back, this son of a factory worker who didn't speak much english just six years ago won a competitive scholarship to attend dicksenson college this fall. [ applause ] >> so everywhere you go, you have got stories like estavon

and troy, but we don't want these to be the exception. we want these to be the rule. that's what we owe our young people and what we owe this country. we all have a steak in restoring the fundamental idea that says it doesn't matter where you start, it matters where you end up. and as parents, teachers, philanthropic, business leaders, and citizens, we all have a role to play. so i'm spending the next three years as president playing mine, and i look forward to working with all of you to make this happen. thank you, everybody. >> 12:14 eastern standard time, president obama meeting at the white house with more than a hundred college and university presidents today all of them

trying to make sure that poor, lower-income students have an equal shot of getting into college and succeeding once they get there. speaking just moments ago telling the crowd to invest in the next generation. here is what he had to say. >> we want to restore the potential promise of upward mobility that is at the heart of america. the notion that if you work hard, you can get ahead, improve your situation in life, and make something of yourself. >> mike it almost looked like a campaign event. the president and first ladywee.

a highly personal speech, i think you are right. normally these events are much shorter than the one we she

never would have gone there herself if it wasn't her brother. >> make no mistake about it, that is our mission, not simply giving speeches or raising money or host conferences, but to take real meaningful efforts to help young people get into college. and you all have shown you have the expe he did not need the cos to accomplish this. >> mike, the nice feel i was talking about, the president and first lady together on the eve

of her 50th birthday. >> yes. >> mike viqueira at the white house. thanks a lot. >> all right. >> we're going to take a

welcome back that $1.1 trillion budget now heading to the sen that it. if passed it will keep the go afloat at least for now. libby casey live on capitol hill right now. libby the clock is running out, saturday at midnight, if the senate is to act it must act soon. >> that's right. del. harry reid filed cloture, and the senate can vote on that tomorrow morning. they could even do it today, but that would take a lot of bipartisanship camaraderie. but do expect it to hit the floor in this the next day or and to pass as well. >> libby after that christmas

recess, another recess for the senate and the house. what is this one about? >> that's right. so martin luther king day next week, and the senate and house are out for the whole week, and democrats are beating a drum that they think they are leaving a lot of the work undone. top theme, unemployment insurance. democrats are talking a lot about that as well, and they say the long-term unemployed need those benefits extended. they also leave things undone like the farm bill which has to be dealt with by the end of january. so they'll have a full docket when they come back. >> libby, thank you very much. we also want to tell you about these dramatic images coming out of colorado. a wildfire is burning out of control outside of los angeles.

the suburb about 25 miles from downtown l.a. this is a house that is now being destroyed. that fire quickly spreading to more than 125 acres due in part to drought conditions and strong winds in the area. police are ordering all of the residents to evacuation. at this time no word of any injuries. police are investigating two persons about that fire. for the first time ever vatican officials are being grilled about child abuse inside the catholic church. today representatives testifying before a un committee in geneva investigating allegations that the vatican allowed abuse to happen and even protected pedophile priests. >> there is no excuse for violence or exploitation of children. such crimes can never be justified. >> victims groups say t

the -- catholic church must be held accountable. much more to get you caught up

welcome back to al jazeera america. it is oscar time. nominations announced earlier this morning. topping the list for best picture, american hustle. and the best actress category, merl streep picking up her 18th nomination. and perhaps the biggest snub, the butler, no nods. several films that were nominated, focusing on the real lives of real people.

brian are we of the biggest sources of all is real life. >> i will not fall into despair! >> reporter: this year art didn't so much imitate art as copy it. 12 years of slave, it says right there on screen. this is based on a true story. captain phillips, based on the 2009 hijacking of a cargo ship. fill mean that. the wolf of wall street, all true, or at least true-ish. and all have been scrutinized for how faithful they are to truth. >> now people are checking to see if that real story is what you truly depicted. >> the wolf of wall street has

been criticized for not portr portraying the lives of the victims. it's hard for a movie like american hustle to be both entertaining and accurate, hustle's disclaimer, some of this actually happened. >> it was no way near the truth. >> this is the real life swindler. >> he did a great job. i only spent three days with him, and he got -- he had me down pat. >> reporter: but american hustle had more drama and cleavage than wineberg's real life. >> there were some things i didn't like. one of the things my wife. she was gorgeous. and my mistress wasn't as

attractive. >> it had conversations, recreated scenes, and in it's a was a dramatization of the real life story, and making the movie from the book is just one more step, you have to accommodate the material to the medium in which you are telling the story. >> some stories just don't lend themselves to being told exactly as they happen. and do they even need to be accurate if they are entertainment. >> the problem is the filmmakers are presenting their work as truthful. if you are presenting it as truthful on the one hand, and then say, well, it's not really that truthful, then that puts yourself in a predicament. >> i was never really a movie

person. i lead the real thing my whole life, so why would i want to go to movies. hanks was stiffed th year for nomination for best actor. >> and mel saying they got it wrong between my wife and my mistress, perhaps the quote of the story. [ laughter ] >> getting harder to breathe these days in china. take a look at this. it is beijing this morning, blanketed in smog. setting a record for polluted air for the second time since january 2013. the air is so bad it's a health hazard. visibility down to 200 yards. i'm del walters in new york.

thanks for watching