Is College Debt Worth It?

21:45

October 01, 2012

Keegan O'Brien joins with members of the Occupy Boston movement, students from area colleges and union workers as they march through downtown Boston, on Nov. 2, 2011. The march was held to protest the nation's growing student debt burden. (AP)

For just over a year, anti-student-debt rallies linked to the Occupy movement have been calling attention to the growing problem of college debt. The issue reached a fever pitch this summer, with concern over the possibility that federal student loan rates would double.

So we know — or think we know — the problem: young people are in hock. But how many students, and how much? A new report from the Pew Center finds that 19 percent of the nation's households had student debt in 2010, up from 9 percent in 1989. That number jumps to 40 percent for households headed by someone under 35 years old.

These new numbers come as more and more people wonder whether a college degree is even worth the investment — and the Boston-based Pathways to Prosperity project is calling on states to rethink the purpose of post-secondary education.

Guest:

Richard Fry, senior research associate at Pew Hispanic Center
Bill Symonds, director, Pathways to Prosperity Project

More:

This segment aired on October 1, 2012.