- why? - because of the conditioning students face their entire lives, saying you must go to college in order to be successful. people are willing to pay whatever it takes to go to college. - and prominent economists agree. as an economist, the prominent economist that you are... - shoot me up good. [overlapping chatter] - get it! the prominent economist that you are, how big of a problem would you say this is? - oh, it's an immoral problem. we impose this upon our young people. it's a narrative where we tell them, go to school, better yourself. college is the key to your mobility. but as a young person, 17, 18 years old, are they making an authentic choice? - well, i feel like i've done everything right. growing up, you know, i'm being told, go to school, work hard, you can do whatever you want, and you can have whatever you want. and it's kinda like, okay, um... you know, i'm 31. what happened here? - i talked to people from different communities across the country to see how student debt had affected them. - adults would tell you...