technical knowledge. for example, a four year degree in psychology can land a job with a starting salary of about $30,000 a year. a graduate degree earning potential to it $60,000 a year. but by contrast a degree in engineering can command a a $5,000 a year starting salary with the promise of 100 grand with a graduate degree. >> today the schools don't emphasize the importance of commerce and engineering technology. instead, there is a lot of emphasis on social history and on doing good in the world. we certainly need social workers and teachers but we also need engineers. >> one employment expert tells us that companies like to hire people who can hit the ground running, shep. >> shepard: hard to believe it's a trillion dollars overall, doug. that's a ton of money. >> that's an incredible amount of money. in fact, the figures vary. the trillion dollars is at the top end of the spectrum. $870 billion is another end of it. more debt, regardless, than americans hold in credit cards