We will discuss if college is worth it. First, your take on that question. We will divide the lines this way. Hig host you can also email us. Magazine put these graphics together on whether or not colleges worth it. Take a look at this, the cost, fees adjusted for inflation. Look at the cost back in 1980, 19 81, around 5,000 for a twoyear public degree, for your public degrees right here. You can see how the cost has risen. In 2010, 20 11, that price is over 25,000 for your private school. That is the price here, going from 1980 through 2010. For a twoyear Public School, the lighter color, you can see the price there. Up at all those categories. Heres is the poll americans think that College Education has become too expensive for most people. 75 believe that most people cannot afford a College Education. 22 said that most people can. Families differ on who should pay for it. Thateneral public believes 48 should come from students and families. That the State Government should pick up 12 . The federal government, 18 . College president s believe that families and students should pay 63 of the price of college, while they believe State Governments should pick up a greater share over the federal government. Yet most College Graduates say that college was a good investment for them. 86 believe it was a good investment to go to college. What do you think . Is College Worth it . You have divided the lines a little bit differently today. And then the payoff. Immediate earnings of a 25yearold to a 35yearold fulltime worker with a bachelors degree, there is the payoff right there. You are looking at over 40,000 per year in 2010. There is the number in 1980. You can see what has happened since 1980 if you only have a High School Diploma. The median earnings of 25 to ,4yearold fulltime workers you can see the difference. A slim majority of Higher Education graduates thinks that testing for college prepares him for a job. 74 believe it gives them intellectual growth. 69 says that it gives them maturity. They say that paying back Student Loans can affect their career choice. This is the percentage of students saying Student Loans make it harder to pay their bills. It was that. 25 said more difficult to buy a home. 24 said that it made it more difficult to choose a career. Trish is up first. What are your thoughts . Hi, good morning. How are you . Host the morning. Caller i am a high school graduate. I did not attend any college. Because of our job market situation in this country today, there is a lot of pressure to get a College Education, a fouryear degree, however the jobs are not out there that support an income to pay off the College Standard of a fouryear degree. I know a lot of people who went wound up working at mcdonalds for minimum wage or another minimumwage factory job. They have carried their college debt for 25, 30 years. So, you know, i dont see that a College Degree is worth it. We should get High School Kids in high school into Career Training and point them in a direction where their natural interests lie, to train them to go into the workforce without having to invest in of debts and thousands for education that we dont know that they are going to be able to even find a career in that area that they study for. Having a you end up career . What do you do for a living . Over the years i stay at home with my kids, when they were little. I have had parttime jobs. But i have never been able to get a job that was above minimum wage. Dontu know, for me i know if that is a college staying. A College Degree would have helped me . I dont know. But i definitely know that in my situation having a College Degree would have given me a lot of debt. Host how old are your children . Caller my youngest is 26. Host did you pay for college . Caller he is getting some assistance for college. She has been in college on and off. She has gone to college and been in the workforce, but she is getting assistance. I think that there is a real problem with the cost of college. Dress why to a is it so expensive . Trisha, we are going to try to break it down here throughout the show. Talk to different people, get different perspectives on why it costs so much. Melvin, maryland, what are your thoughts . Caller hi. I think that for the most part the biggest problem we are having is that you are taking in a high cost for college and the jobs you get out of it are generally not jobs that will pay back those Student Loans. And then you have got, on top of that there is a significant amount of time. If you look at the stats a lot of College Students are not actually getting out in that fouryear timeslot that they used to as well. Are talking about five years in many instances. What do yout host what do you do for a living . The federalrk for government. Many of my friends have masters degrees, and they dont have jobs. Or if they do, they are egregiously unemployed. Host karen says this take a look at the debt surge. The wall street journal at this graphic together. More borrowers are turning to federal programs that cap and ultimatelys offer loan forgiveness. This is the median graduate theol that level owed by typical borrower upon graduation in 2012. If you get a law degree, look at your debt load in 2012 compared to what it was in 2004. A doctor of medicine, 100 35,000 debt compared to 100 3000 in 2004. Master of science, 36,000 in 2012 versus 32,000 in 2004. Master of arts you are looking at a debt of 43,000 versus, well, 28,000 in 2004. A master of education in 2012, you are looking at a debt of 35,000 dollars. In 2004 it was 27,000. A master of business administration, 36,000 dollars in debt in 2012 versus 33,000 in 2004. David, upper marlboro, maryland. Postgraduate to postgraduate degree. Was it worth it . Out of theot military five years ago and quickly found there was a glass haveng for folks who dont specific job trades with extensive amounts of experience. So, i decided to pack my bags and go back to school. I was quickly absorbed into my community of kind of knowledge and my marketability went up drastically. So. Host right, patrick, d c, College Graduate, is College Worth it . Caller absolutely. Host why . Caller it has allowed me to do what i wanted to do. I did not have Student Loans when i graduated. I believe a big part of it is looking at it as an investment. Now it does not pay off as well as it used to. Student loans for low paying job , that is probably not a great investment if you want to be financially independent early in your life. You might look at other forms of technical training, computer networking, Something Like that, if that is your goal. If you have your College Education paid for, that is a great opportunity to do what you want, become an artist or something, where the money you make is less guaranteed. That is more of a looking at it like an investment whereas in the past it was seen as a given. To your an investment, point, skipping college can cost you 800,000 from slate. Com. A study fromt from the Federal Reserve bank in san francisco. Is College Worth it to you . Maryland,e plains, postgraduate degree. John, what do you think . Caller i have to mirror what patrick says. The second part was to my g. I. Bill benefits. Now i am seriously considering pushing my kids towards some kind of technical degree or working on scholarships, because the economy is not going to support jobs that will pay back debt. Host how old are your kids . Caller eight and 10. Host are you saving for college . Caller yes, we are, but i am trying to cover all the bases, look at scholarships, saving money, encourage them to find out what they are interested in thoroughly so that we can both look at their interests and look at the most economical, beneficial line of work or investment we are saving for. The economy is not supporting income the campaign back past college debt. It goes up and up every year, it is ridiculous. Is more important . Saving for retirement or college . Zerosumt is not a something, you have to focus on both. You have to make decisions that are going to support both your educational aspirations and your retirement needs. Because Everybody Knows that your retirement dollars dont go anywhere near as far as you think they are going to go. Pressure inso much our Political Landscape now to undo and find benefit pensions that are almost nonexistent now. The stock market, it is a crapshoot. If everything is in the stock market, you dont know what you will have. All right. This email is from alan. Alex in fairfax, virginia, with a High School Degree, what do you think . Caller i think a College Degree is still necessary, certainly. I think that definitely the message that we are all given from children, that it is important to get your education and stay in school is correct, but in a sense we are under emphasizing and falling behind the rest of the civilized world and developed world in terms of tuition. Most of the industrialized world i dont think anywhere in the industrialized world has tuition as high as the United States. I think that as americans we need to be demanding policies to back up the messages they are sending to our children, that education is important and we need to be working seriously and, frankly, taking emphasis programs, like defense spending, so that we can bring our social services, like education and health care, to a level that keeps up with the rest of the industrialized world. Thank you. Jones, story from mother democrats plan to use Elizabeth Warrens student loan bill against gop in november. Democratic strategists think that her legislation, reducing the bills of millions of americans by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year could help to turn out young people who tend to vote for democrats. Thatf americans say Student Loan Debt is a major issue for them. Democrats plan to hold a vote on her bill or a version of it in early june and hold republicans who vote against it accountable. Senator blumenthal, cosponsoring this legislation, came to the floor yesterday to talk about it. [video clip] i am proud to join my toleagues in an effort reassess refinancing of Student Loans. We cannot forget about current graduates with existing debt. As much as we want to make more aid available through pell grants, lower Interest Rates on loans being made right now, opportunities to seek paying down those loans based on Public Service, more disclosure and more accurate disclosure through the kinds of measures that senator franken has introduced. I will join him. But right now, we can take this profoundly significant step b supporting a measure that enables refinance of student everyone has the benefit of the best, lowest, most affordable Interest Rate. Blumenthal, on the floor yesterday, talking about this student loan legislation he is cosponsoring with elizabeth moran. The bill is expected to come to the floor of the senate early in june. Related to this, a story from the Washington Times on the Housing Market. The nations battered Housing Market is faltering again. The atlanta on their Housing Market the metro area sinceosures, the lowest 2002. Expert protections that Mortgage Rates would climb to 30 this year have not come true and the Housing Market is taking full advantage of the delay. So, that is a different story from the Chicago Tribune this morning. Morning,r news this the front page of the. Arledger new video shows the captive nigerian girls dressed and praying as muslims as captives release new threats as terrorists release new threats. This video from the white house saying no reason to question the authenticity of it. There will be hearing about this terrorist group before the Senate Foreign relations at 10tee on thursday a. M. Of that one coverage cspan three. We told you about the senate forward onot going Energy Efficiency bill. Tied up and that was a vote on the Climate Change regulation that was brought down in the senate yesterday. This is a section of the New York Times that has a piece about the keystone pipelines. An amendment to its permit without much trouble to expand capacity to 800 Barrels Per Day with more big plans to expand its transit mountain pipeline to more than 800,000 Barrels Per Day and the projects totaled 3 million Barrels Per Day of extra pipeline capacity, much more than the 700,000 Barrels Per Day of capacity the canadian producers would require. Keystoneey say the pipeline is needed. On benghazi, an update on those investigations here is the Washington Times. A new date has been set for john kerry to testify about benghazi. The oversight and Government Reform Committee had subpoenaed the secretary of state to but the twoay 21, have gone back and forth and they are trying to come up with a new day. On that select committee, democrats opened another front of attack yesterday, with representative john lewis calling on a fellow georgian to step down saying he cannot be fair because he helps republicans raise money. That is lynn westmoreland, deputy chairman for the national committee. To our topic. What do you think . Good morning. Caller good morning. She graduated high school in 1992. Late mothers motto is to live within your means. Why should the taxpayers be subsidizing other people . Kids that are not academically qualified, the standards this morning are not for they were 40 years ago. Bill, connecticut, post graduate degree. Was it worth it . Caller it is bloated, their feathering their own nests, ok . Like in connecticut, 60 on average of these budgets go for education. They are educating the children. Then they have to move down south to get a job. Because the education budget is overblown. They throw out the food before the report and i think it is overblown. Salaries. Cost here is this was put together by the chronicle for Higher Education, taking a look at full professors. Columbia university, full professors average salary, two hundred 50,000 dollars. Stanford university, 215 thousand dollars for a full professor. Those are the top paid full universities, according to the chronicle of Higher Education. They also put together the University College president s and how much they are making. It starts with some of the top College President s. These are 2011 numbers, by the way. Robert cymer, university of chicago, making 3. 3 million. It goes all the way down to 400,000, two hundred thousand dollars, for these College University president s. Carol, ohio, that morning. Husband and iy have High School Degrees and we decided we wanted our kids to have College Degrees, so we started saving in grade school. My son graduated from west Liberty College with a music degree and a teaching degree. Having the teaching degree during 9 11, he was living in new york, he is still living in new york, but he got to work for new york state education making videos for teachers to teach. My daughter graduated from Kent State University with a nursing degree and she has been a nurse ever since. She has a great job. She has had great jobs. She has a good job now. So, if you go into college, go into something that is a field that is that you will be working in. Teaching, nursing, Something Like that. Its carol, you think worth it. How much did you save for your kids to go to college . Caller thousands and thousands. But we sacrificed, so that they would not have any loans. We felt that we could do it and we did do it. You d caller this was the time that college was not quite as expensive as now, and we were making the money at the end of when my husband was working. Host did you and your husband have enough for retirement to live off of . Caller we saved at the same time. We always saved. Dakota , and south doug, celtic otto doug, south dakota, is College Worth it . Caller definitely. One thing about it it is the quality of the jobs. When i graduated 45 years ago, 69, i believe, i got to teach at a small Teachers College in the state. I could never have done that without a graduate degree. I later went to work for the federal government and was able to start at a higher level. That enabled me to make mo