Money or ali velshi. A good coming education has helped millions of americans ray chief the american dream. Tuition has grown twice the rate of inflation putting it at risk to many. An estimated 60 of students who earned a bachelors degrees borrowed on average 26. 5000. Traditionally, americans could count on this country s sea system of education. But the last few decades have driven up the costs. The net annual college cost for a student in a fouryear Public College last year rose to 12,400. Thats 50 jump from ten years ago. It costs more to get an education than it may before, but in the end what counts on the return of investment. Last year a pew survey asked that question, 75 of respondents believe that a College Education is too expensive for most americans today. But 57 say colleges fail to provide a good value for the money families invest to obtain a degree, and that might be a bigger indictment of what is wrong of Higher Education that i than the surging costs. People want to know if its worth the cost. They want to be shown the money. Many are responding to those demands. Reports on new research that points to what some students are calling money degrees. He loves being on stage but these Graceful Moves werent earning her to pay the bills. Money talks. You went from being a dancer to looking for bugs . Yes. And this is my favorite part of this, looking at bugs. She graduated with a two Year Associates degree in Water Quality in colorado. She earns more than 20 an hour or the equivalent of 40,000 a year. All of us have to make money to survive. New Research Shows shes part of a wave of people with twoyear degrees in Applied Science earning as much or more after their first year of graduation than those with bachelors degrees. The most surprising finding was to discover how valuable those degrees were in the labor market. President of Education DataCompany College measures compared firstyear earnings of all graduates with twoyear degrees compared to four degrees in several states. In texas, technical degrees outearned bachelor degrees. And in colorado, the spread exceeded 7,000. In fact, while Community College tuition in colorado is about 3,600 a year. State data show the median first year pay for technical graduates is 53,000. A middle class wage. An enough to raise a family. Colorado is one of several states releasing and crossreferences Employment Data so students can decide if their dream degree is worth the cost. Students have to start paying on their loans the first year out. They want to know if they can cover those loans. Tuition is 3,600 a year. Studio. Students should Still Matters what matterstudywhat matters tot excites them, but what challenge will they face if they finish with an art degree compared to an engineering degree. Its technical degrees are so valuable because industry professionals help shape curriculum. Consulting with 177 business and Community Leaders who help keep courses in sync with the immediate needs of hiring companies. So maybe your company and you need 20 people trained in data warehousing, but thats all you need. Well put together a program that will give you those 20 people, but then im ready to close that program and move on. Red rocks is considering expanding the Water Quality program because employment suggests the denver area will need 1800 quality workers in the next few years. We met one student who enrolled in the program two years ago after working lowpaying jobs for most of his life. How have you been able to save money . Between gas, food, and everything else, shoes and socks on my feet, i havent been able to save any money at all. Reporter but his Water Quality train something paying off. They called me up this morning and i was in complete shock. Complete shock. I just stood there, i just got a job. Yeah, it was super exciting. Reporter now hes joining the ranks of people like yaro, happy to have a stable job and an education that they believe was worth the cost. It will be such a wonderful thing to be able to pay off my debt. Do you want him to go into water management, too . That would be awesome. Al jazeera, colorado. Mark snyder from coming measures was named one of ten people whose made a Lasting Impact on Higher Education in 2013. His research looks at college as an investment. He said that the biggest returns come from graduates who can fix people or fix products. He joins us from washington. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Ive made this argument so many times. We cant complain about college debt. We have to say that weve tried to make a smart investment and were not getting the return on that investment. How much of this is just bad choices that students and their families make . I dont think they have enough information about what is the full range of alternatives are. Fundamentally i believe that students have to do anything that they love and theyre motivated by, but they also need to know what the consequences are of their choices. So if someone wants to be a dancer or someone wants to be a musician, let them follow that muse but dont borrow 75,000 pursuing a degree that will make them 25,000. Give me an example of great return on. The construction trades. You can get certificates or associate degrees in construction trades. Those are very high rates of return. Anything that has to do with high tech manufacturing pays o enormouenormously. Healthcare. Some of the nursing is really a very, very lucrative profession right now. Emts actually inwere doing some data in florida right now looking at data for their systems, and emts are among the highest paid people getting twoyear degrees. When you say i dont think people have have enough information. Students have enough information, whose responsibility is that, or lets assume that youre listening to this, and youve got a student. Where should you go to find out about the degree. Its not just a matter of the degree but its a matter of deciding what you are going to do and not over paying for it. Many states have been collecting the data for years, and they havent put it out in the Public Domain in a way that students can access this. I think the federal government has been talking about this for some time and whether or not theyre able to solve this problem, im not convinced. The ball is in the court of the states and the states have to do a much better job. In a point of 10 or 20 years ago it made sense in architect because there was all this building going on. And then when construction stopped architects had higher unemployment rates than anyone else. Now were getting back into it. How d when you enter a a field and it has started paying low, can you catch up . No. When you start low you stay low. Biology, the largest science major in the country actually students start low and about ten years out many of them are at medical, they finish medical school so their wages are higher. But in general if you have a creative writing degree and youre making 25,000 a year, ten years out you may be making 40,000 a year. But your peer who went into engineering started making 50s and ends 80s. You start low, you end low. The author of getting to graduation. Coming up next. Meet an actor turned activist who is putting a very personal face on a trillion dollar problem. Hi, im getting a lot of pressure. The lenders are call to go pay off the Student Loans. Aarons story and more as real money continues. Keep it here. Al jazeeras Investigative Unit has tonights exclusive report. Stories that have impact. That make a difference. That open your world. This is what we do. America tonight next only on Al Jazeera America from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. Al Jazeera America is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. A deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. Thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. Were following multiple developments on syria at this hour. Every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. Only on Al Jazeera America. Start with one issue education. Gun control. The gap between rich and poor. Job creation. Climate change. Tax policy. The economy. Iran. Healthcare. Ad guests on all sides of the debate. This is a right we should all have. Its just the way it is. Theres something seriously wrong. Theres been acrimony. The conservative ideal. Its an urgent need. And a host willing to ask the tough questions how do you explain it to yourself . And youll get. The inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on Al Jazeera America weve all heard the numbers on Student Loan Debt roughly 1 trilliondollar and growing. Twothirds of College Seniors will graduate with 26,600 in Student Loan Debt up 41 since 1989. Its a lot to digest and easy to ignore if its not your problem. But consider the people behind those numbers. Thanks to one actor turned activist the spotlight is on. Patricia went to kent, ohio, to meet the man and see the drama that he created. I just want to pay off my high Student Loan Debt. Almighty god hosannah in the highest one man, one act, 1 trilliondollar problem. 1 trilliondollar, the number comes off the screen. 1 trillion of Student Loan Debt. Thats a big number. Aaron is trying to cut down to size with for profit, a play recounting his journey through both sides of the student debt crisis. The tuition is going up and the value of the degree is going down. All my Student Loan Debt came up at one time. Youre looking at your expenses, your bills, and im not able to pay it. His high student loan payments forced him to leave behind a budding acting career in new york and return back to ohio. I took my job as an admissi admissionsed a adviser. I enrolled students. I put them into debt in order to pay off my own Student Loan Debt. Through one hour and a cast of characters he explores a system fueled by debt, dreams, and desperation. You see, a for Profit University we dont call people people. We dont call students, students. We call students leads. Hi this, is aaron. I dont want to be here im getting a lot of pressure. The lenders are calling to make me pay off my own Students Loans and i have to put you in debt. An entry point for a broader discussion on student he debt. When the curtain drops on this performance at Kent State University students are questioning the status quo. Why do we have so much debt . It definitely made me think. I wish the government did more to help students with debt. I think that when people see a human face, a Human Experience theyre more likely to take action. He has been the face of student debt for more than 50 performances across six states. Now hes hoping to take his Campaign National by encouraging others to go public with their stories. My name is aaron, and i have 62,000 in Student Loan Debt. Working through student debt crisis, a nonprofit he cofounded, he is launched out with student debt and Online Platform that invites anyone to up load their stories. I owe 142,000. I own 59,000. I owe 144,000. This tears you up. He hopes to turn the project into a larger video tool to pressure law make tours enact student finance reform. A mission that has become more urgent since his daughter was born. [ kissing noises ] i need to do my small little part to tell the story so when she grows up he has the opportunity to get a Higher Education but not go into so much debt that its destroying her life economically. Thank you. Al jazeera, kent, ohio. He has been petitioning congress to pass several reforms, offering bankruptcy protection for all Student Loans and loan forgiveness programs. He and his wife owe 1,200 a month, and one of his students has gone into collection. So you might be thinking why should i care about aaron . He took out those loans. He put himself into debt. That is his problem. 1 trilliondollar in student debt is everyones problem when you consider how it effects americas economy. Our student loan loan ombudsmen. Why is this everyones problem . 1 trilliondollar impacting americans. This is not just an issue for students and families who owe this debt, but were looking at the domino effects of all this debt from how it impacts the Housing Market to formation of Small Businesses to retirement savings. Were already seeing, for example, first time homeowners who really want to become a homeowner not being able to because they cant qualify for a mortgage because of their student debt. Its something that we really need to accept as a problem for all of us not just students and their families. What do you guys over at the cbp do to alleviate the problems. One of the things weve focused on is the student loan servicing. These are companies that collect payments from borrowers. Some of the same troubles that americans face with their mortgage servicers, where they face improper payment processes and in some cases illegal foreclosures we see some signs that that could be repeating itself, and were making steps to make sure that it doesnt get out of control. But we need to be able to take advantage of todays historically low rates. So much of student debt is at rates , and finding refinance options are few and far between. I was talking to mark snyder about how students can make more informed decisions. You have th the Financial Aid shopping sheet. Thats right. A simple onepage shopping sheet which allows students and families to compare apples to apples before they sign on the dotted line and go to school about how much they might owe after graduation. So many people are often sticker shocked. We need to do more education, and more initiatives to improve transparency so people can make better decisions but this does not help the millions of people who already have this debt. And thats something that we just need to address. And ultimately other than overseeing those loan servers, and make sugar that theyre not doing bad things, many are saddled with bad debt, and it does not necessarily have anything to do with best practices. Before when they would head to school they could expect a nice paying job when they graduated. But then in they saw the economy collapse around them, and so many of those people took out loans when they could have found Better Options because there was a robust market for more Student Loans. They graduated in a tough economy. Many of them are still under employed or unemployed. Unlike federal laws, borrowers are having a tough time in finding loan modification. They want to pay it back, but they just need a plan that wor works. Student loan ombudsmen, thank you. Thanks, ali. Its called the kalamazoo promise. Move into the city and get free College Tuition for your kids. People are like, youre crazy. I said someone will always want to live in the suburbs, but i want my kids to go to College Without debt. That story and more as real the stream is uniquely interactive television. In fact, we depend on you, your ideas, your concerns. All these folks are making a whole lot of money. You are one of the voices of this show. I think youve offended everyone with that kathy. Hold on, theres some room to offend people, im here. We have a right to know whats in our food and monsanto do not have the right to hide it from us. So join the conversation and make it your own. Watch the stream. And join the conversation online ajamstream. Kalamazoo michigan has become a model of how philanthropists and businesses and other cities can motivate students to go to college. In the last eight years 3,000 kalamazoo grads have received a total of 50 million in full or partial scholar ships to pay for secondariation. It is now a model that other cities around the country are trying to copy. Michigan State University freshman donny washington is already talking about graduate school. Law school is something that im in to. Shes part of a social experiment. It gave you that extra push. Students who complete grades 9 through 12 at kalamazoo get 65 of tuition paid. Those who go through all grades in kalamazoo get a full scholarship. And the money can be used for ten years after high school graduation. Maurice washington was homeless when he moved to town and said without the promise he would be a different man. I believe i would be dead or in jail. Reporter kalamazoo has 75,000 residents. One in three live in poverty while many are struggle to go stay in the middle class. Since the promise was announced in 2005 enrollment in the district shot up more than 24 . As families who otherwise would have avoided kalamazoo started moving in and snatching up property. People are like, youre crazy. I said someone will always want to live in the suburbs, but i want my kids to go to College Without debt. Reporter kristin estimates shell save more than 1,000 in College Tuition for her three daughters. Thou she plans to open a business downtown like dozens of other people executive director janice brown said because of enrollment more teacher jobs were created and 70 of promised students enrolled in two local schools. Both saw big jump in tuition revenue. 30 million in our communities swirling around that wasnt there before. Reporter dr. Brown is the only one who knows the identities of the anonymous donors behind the promise, and shes not telling but she does say theyve already paid 50 million to send children to trade schools around the state and pledge to do so forever. Anyone who could do that could live anywhere in the world, and they live in this small unique funky vibey little place with the weird name called kalamazoo. Reporter 30 similar programs have popped up around the country, and dozens more in the works. Pittsburghs Public Schools has 26,000 students, twice as many as kalamazoo. They estimate they need 250 million endowment to honor promises made to students in 2006. The Medical Center pledged 100 million challenge grant and said it considers the money an investment. Many of these students are going and becoming nurses, doctors, Human Resource professionals, finances professionals. All things needed. Reporter hundreds of pittsburgh promised scholars have been hired by the very same companies that help to pay for their College Tuition. Have a america. Im david shieft. A judge has ordered that 13yearold jahi mcmath be taken off of life support. She was ordered brain dead after a tonsillectomy earlier this month. Pope francis conducted hits first ever Christmas Mass at the vatican. He has vowed to bring people back to their faith. Nasa says the International Space stays spacewalk was a success,ep