00:111.2 trillion dollars in student debt over 40 million students in debt in an
00:18economy that needs more educated workers to grow and where workers need more
00:23education to get a good job it's a national crisis of student debt but it's
00:29also a game show let's see who will win the American dream of not living on cat food
00:36and who will be crushed by their debt contestant number one you go to a four
00:43year university right that's right you're likely to end up with a big
00:48student loan the good news you'll likely get a higher paying job so I'm sure
00:54you'll have it paid off within 10 or 20 years
00:59contestant 2 you go to a for-profit college right yeah not only did they
01:04promise me a great paying job they gave me a free t-shirt
01:08ouch I hope you did your research
01:15some for-profit colleges can advance your career some not so much well this game sucks
01:25what time is it history time after World War two the GI Bill other grants and federal loan
01:31programs all made college affordable for lots of Americans that drove our post-war national
01:37economic expansion those college degrees gave our workers the skills they needed
01:41our economy grew and we ended up with less income inequality until 1980 so what
01:48happened in 1980 well a bunch of things for all sorts of reasons college costs
01:52started going up and up politicians trying to cut government expenses reduce
01:57support for state colleges loan programs were shrunk and private banks were let into
02:01the student loan game at the same time average American income stopped rising the
02:06way they used to all which took the US from number one in the world in people
02:10getting college degrees to number 14 today other countries caught up while we
02:15stagnated don't be such a Debbie Downer my name is Denise whatever well what about me
02:22I go to a two-year community college hey your debt is lower but unless you're in a
02:28program for an in-demand skill the degree won't really help your earning power you
02:32might not even graduate you get the debt and no degree game over
02:46hey that's not fair that's life Denise Downer but we've got to do something student
02:52debts not just hurting people like me it's hurting the whole economy some people say
02:57government should better subsidize state schools which would lower the cost to
03:00students maybe there could be better integration between community college
03:04and industry for community college students we could boost the number of
03:08two-year programs that help students get the credentials they need for skilled
03:11jobs or we can help graduates go on to a four-year degree and set up programs to
03:16support them so they actually graduate yeah but then I won't be able to crush
03:19people with student debt exactly and as students we've got to pick the right
03:23politicians to send to Washington in our state houses they're the ones setting the
03:27rules for this game and the ones who can change the rules well until we figure it
03:32out at least we'll have plenty more episodes of student debt
03:38you
03:39you
03:39you
03:40you
