Twitter Chat: Is a college degree worth the cost?

The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that by the year 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the U.S. will require at least some education beyond high school. Even with a degree, many college graduates struggle to find work in the current economic climate. As tuition continues to rise, student debt appears to be a growing problem. All this raises the question — is a college degree worth the cost?

What are the potential long-term effects of student debt on the U.S. economy? Will increased focus on higher education impact the U.S. skilled trade industry? Are we neglecting other options, such as work-based learning and apprenticeships that could be more accessible and affordable?

We asked you to join this conversation in a Twitter chat on Tuesday. Beth Akers, (@BethAkersEd), and Matthew Chingos, (@chingos), from the Brookings Institution, (@BrookingsEd), discussed their research on the impact of student loan debt. Filmmaker Andrew Rossi, (@IvoryTowerFilm), director of the film “Ivory Tower,” which looks at student loan debt in America, shared his insights. Jon Marcus of the Hechinger Report, (@hechingerreport), economist and Urban Institute fellow Robert Lerman, (@urbaninstitute), and Becky Klein-Collins, associate vice president of research and policy development at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, (@CAELnews), discussed how apprenticeships and technical training could be integrated into the current system to provide a practical alternative. Read a transcript of the discussion below.

A new plan proposed by Michigan legislators would create a pilot program to send low and middle income students to college for free, as long as they promise to pay into the program with a percentage of their post-graduate incomes. Image by Mehmed Zelkovic/Getty Images