By host Tom Ashbrook:

If all those incoming college freshmen and their families want to know how on earth they are going to pay for college, they could ask America’s newest college grads. It takes a mountain of cash and grants and loans and sweat and pain and, increasingly, debt.

The average college senior in the USA graduated this year with more than $19,000 in debt — a little something to start life with. Nearly eight percent of new grads carry student loans of $40,000 dollars or more. Some, much more.

Critics say the growing student debt load is warping young lives, creating an unfair burden, enriching lenders and ultimately cheating the country.

Hear about desperately seeking alternatives to the burden of college debt.

Guests:

Jeff Selingo, editor of business and politics for the Chronicle of Higher Education.;
Elizabeth Warren, Professor of Law at the Harvard School of Law and co-author of “The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke.”;
Anya Kamenetz, columnist for the Village Voice and author of “Generation Debt: Why Now Is a Terrible Time to Be Young.”;
Joe Hlubucek, Counselor for Education, Science and Training at the Australian Embassy in Washington.