Excerpt
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: So we live in a time when over the next decade 60 percent of new jobs will require more than a high school diploma. And other countries are hustling to out-educate us today so they can out-compete us tomorrow.
GWEN IFILL (Newshour): It was the latest in a series of executive actions the president is taking to bypass the congressional roadblock that has stymied his larger jobs bill.
Soaring college costs have become a key concern. The College Board reported today that average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges are up 8 percent this year. That makes the cost of a full course load, upward of $8,000, more expensive than ever -- 36 million Americans owe on student loans, a burden which now surpasses credit card debt.
For more on the latest effort to address the problem of college debt, we turn to Jeff Selingo, vice president and editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Anya Kamenetz, who has written widely on the subject, including the book "Generation Debt."
Jeff Selingo, we heard 36 million people are paying college debt. This plan that the president put forward today would affect 1.6 million. How much of a difference would it make?
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