the 2016 presidential race with liz chadderdon and phillip stutts. then, a conversation on higher education with goldie blumenstyk. ♪ host: good morning. on today's "washington journal", we will talk about that rising cost of college education and the presidential campaign in 2016. one day after allies announced the formal and to operation endurance in afghanistan. while thousands of troops will

remain in afghanistan through 2015, give us a call and tell us what you think. we want to hear from afghan war veterans this morning. you can also catch up with us on all of your favorite social media pages __ twitter, facebook, or email us. a very good monday morning to you. the formal end to nato's combat mission in afghanistan. yesterday, at a ceremony in kabul __ the change in mission to place. a little bit from the "washington journal" piece __

the international security force is being replaced by smaller fore __ force, it will focus on smaller missions. cmdr. journal john cameron put away the flag __ we are asking our viewers this morning, how do you remember the war in afghanistan? remember, the u. s. presence in afghanistan will not end anytime soon __ about 10,600

troops are american. yesterday's ceremony gives us a chance to reflect on that conflict. the present them releasing his statement yesterday alongside the ceremony.

we want to hear your thoughts this morning. we will start with rules calling in from aurora, ohio. good morning. >> good morning. my feeling is pure sadness. i do not feel that we have a clear vision. i feel that this is been 10 years of pure frustration and meaninglessness. listening to the words of the president, as you read them, they are just words. i see no feeling, no reality. host: the stars & stripes calling it an ill_defined and to an era for nato.

the story noting that the noncombat mission is in a combat environment. that is a story from "stars & stripes" to the end of the combat mission in afghanistan. wayne is on the line.

caller: i have been watching for 25 years. the afghan war __ as you remember __ goes with saddam. when they got rid of saddam, everything went to hell. we went to afghanistan __ we went so far, and came back. last time, we were heroes. what happened? wwe send down $1 billion on a pallet and it disappeared. where did that money go? it was stolen at the beginning of the war. people in politics think the american people do not know what is going on. we do. the afghan war is coming to an end, but we know we will be over there. we have the cutest industry over there __ it's huge.

host: we are talking about the war in afghanistan. yesterday, here's a comment from secretary hagel: we're talking comment on her facebook page as well. one comment from billy miller __ i was in afghanistan a few times __ john is up next.

john, good morning. how we remember the war in afghanistan? caller: like most other things from the bush administration, it was a massive failure. we probably killed more grandmothers and babies, and kids that we have real terrorists. it was the beginning of the biggest foreign_policy blunder in the history of the country. host: in terms of civilians killed, here's a story from reuters __

that is a story from reuters from last week. gregory is up next. on the line for democrats. caller: aamen to what people have said so far. for me, i remember reading a article in the "new york times" talking about how sensor deployment to afghanistan, the output of hera wayne jumped from 95% to 98%. it did not seem to make that big of a deal,but hey, that is

what the show is all about. i was introduced that fact __ also, military contracting is done in this country. there are lobbyist and their souls are not going anywhere anytime soon, i do not imagine. that is pretty much what i remember. thou __ the uptake in heoroin production. host: we have a special line for afghan veterans. from our twitter page __ i'll remember the war in afghanistan as long.

the "new york times" has a story today __ we will read more on that story from the new times. we want to hear from our viewers this morning. daniels up next on the

independent line. caller: good morning. i was really young when the war started. i was in third grade when the world trade center was attacked. at this point, i will remember the war as a war in which resource wars are not meant to be fought. i think we will remember patriotism, and not necessarily totality. we are hearing all the numbers __ we have a means to not complicate the grievances that we have with un_american behavior. thank you. host: daniel, stay with me for a minute. you said that you were kind of coming up when it's what was happening.

how do you see this war alongside other wars in american history? caller: it's not vietnam. the number of deaths is way less. it was worth it, but a learning experience. host: what are the lessons that americans to take away from this war? caller: that i would have to think about, i do not think we have the time for that. host: we have about a half hour, we want to hear your thoughts. like you said, special line for afghan veterans. al is next. caller: in my opinion __ we can take from the lessons that we learned after world war ii. we use boa and other radio

transmission methods to __ i'm sorry __ if the people into a new way of thinking. that's what we need to do __ change the mindset. we need to educate them on the attendance of the koran, and try to __ replace old thought patterns. host: now, how long do you think that process will take? how long do you think the american movement should be in this education effort? caller: radio free europe __ i honestly think we should commit to that. we would save on resources as

well. caller: the cnn story on this noting that american troops went to fight in afghanistan following september 11, 2011. laverne is up next. caller: good morning. i do not care how long this war goes on. i want him to get somebody in there to take care of the good people. get some troops and their. i'm so tired of him dragging troops out just to prove he wants to make a name for himself. he has a name already, and it is not very good. i am finished with him.

i wish they would impeach him. host: would you want the next present to put more troops back in afghanistan? what you think will happen there over the next two years? the amount troops is expected to be around 11,000. caller: you're asking me that? host: yeah. caller: i don't know how long or how many, like i said, i don't care. host: another facebook post, this one from kevin.

you can contribute to the conversation on our facebook page or give us a call. like we said, there is a special line for afghan war veterans. jim in pennsylvania, our line for republicans. caller: i was cheering for george bush when we first went in. it has been a learning experience. i am no fan of george bush now. i certainly will not vote for jeb bush. i remember when the confederacy died, and jefferson davis said that __ it died of an idea. this was an idea __ a liberal idea.

an idea you could have a multiethnic, multi_tribal, multi_religious nationstate and make it into a democracy. this is something that __ george bush was a neocon, he was not conservative. the conservatives were against the war. i remember when joe biden said something that was typical __ everybody laughed at him __ he said that they should divide that different ethnic groups in two different states. they laughed at him, but he was correct. that's only way you can have a multiethnic nation state. either, segregate, divide, or have a soviet like system. diversity and liberty are not synonymous. america will find out the same thing. and __ in about 50 years.

we will be there. our nation was founded in homogeneity. there were no you moms in the house the burgesses. there were no muslims in the constitutional convention. host: what do you think should happen to those nearly 11,000 troops that will remain in afghanistan? would you be in favor of bringing them out now? caller: yeah, i would say disengage completely. let them kill each other and secure the southern border. try to save the west. the west is shrinking. france will not be france by

2050. england will not be england. it is sad to say, but they died for nothing. host: wwe are taking your calls this morning. at that transition ceremony that happened yesterday, billing afghan officials to speak was the civil advisor. he said in his statement yesterday __ we pray for the fall and, your sons and daughters who died on our soil. afghan forces are now fully ready to defend the country, but they cannot do it without foreign assistance. we do not want your support to be indefinite, but we do need it now more than ever. you can see parts of it ceremony there. bob is up next, on the line for

democrats. caller: good morning. i wonder what will happen now. the taliban comes in and they start murdering people, what will happen? will we go back over there again? like we did with bush the first time. if we do, are we going to stay, or will he go somewhere else? if you want to see the results of these war, go to the va hospital in your area. look at the number of young men, not the old guys __ the young men who were crippled, dramatic brain injuries. that's all i have to say.

host: stars and stripes also with several galleries on the war in afghanistan. you can scroll through online. marking 13 years of war in afghanistan. here are a couple pictures from my gallery. u. s. soldiers out on patrol, and other images. that is "stars & stripes" if you want to look at that. joan is up next. caller: democrat actually. i am 24. when 9/11 happened, i was in sixth grade. from the time that the happen __ i was shocked and upset with my family and friends __ i remember being told how bad it

was. and hey, this is a great excuse, we have to go to war. al qaeda was what __ 300 people? we brought an entire army to go there. i believe we went there for oil, for money. we are americans, we are driven by money. we will want to find any way to get ahead. i believe that this entire war was based on a lie. hopefully we wake up as americans. especially for my younger age group, the millennial's, we wake up. it is not about spreading the red, white, and blue, and giving people a democracy. it is driven __ everyone wants money. we have lobbyist telling

politicians said push war. what host: what wars in the past were about spreading democracy? caller: the vietnam war. someone else mentioned opium __ yes, i think the drug war. there is a possibility of communism spreading __ the fear of communism __ iit is all based on fear and money driven. it is difficult to say __ i think the red, white, and blue is an excuse to get ahead. host: the u. s. force in afghanistan peaked in 2010 and 2011 during present obama surge

to about 130,000 troops. of course, is gradually shrink in recent years. again, there will still be about 11,000 u. s. forces into different mission roles in afghanistan in the next year, and into the future. a few front_page articles on the transition yesterday. here's a picture from the front page of the "wall street journal." u. s. soldiers then he added afghan post on sunday. the story making the front pages of the "miami herald" this morning. nato marks the end of the war, but some u. s. forces will remain. the "arkansas gazette" front page.

over to the front page of the "dothan eagle." "the daily star" __ from lebanon. we want to get your reaction this morning. there's a special line for afghan veterans. on our twitter page __ joseph hill will remember the war __ if you are an afghan veterans, we have a special line for you. please call in on that line. lee from virginia. caller: good morning.

host: how we remember the war? caller: i was in afghanistan first in 2001 and in 2003. my job was to take care of other marines. i also did some work with aviation as well. in 2005, i joined a special unit to take care of wounded warriors coming back from the war. this was very personal to me. i lost a very dear friend. i think you have a lot of people. i was hurt myself from this. i remember this war __ lots of things __ the moon dust on the ground. i remember the smell, the sites. to take it to a different level __ i remember this.

i joined the navy in 1998. i went to the navy corps school, and medical school before 9/11. when 9/11 hey, i remember the terminus patriotism. we all said, all right, we're going to war. i remember the beginning of it being very noble. i have concerns about how it turned out. i really hope we look at this __ the history perspective now __ and see what went wrong. again, i believe __ for all her enemies listening out there, if you attack us, we will attack you. the question is though __ the way we retaliate back with a reactionary. it was not a strategic as we could've been. and frankly, the way of how we

are as american people is unfortunately very reactionary. we need to learn from and per minute __ prevented in the future. host: ddo you think the afghan people are ready to take this on their own? there are about 11,000 u. s. troops who will be helping in training and limited combat roles in the future. when you think that afghans will be ready to take this on without american troops? caller: i think they aren't ready. they will never be ready if we do not let them be ready. meaning __ we have to let them stand on their own 2 feet.

frankly, if we help them a lot, they will think americans will always be there. they will not take responsibility. i think this is an opportunity for them to take responsibility. we will still have troops on their __ the notion that the war is over __ is not true. because the war is over __ a lot of the benefits and other supports __ we need to keep a close eye on that __ they may not be able to get their support. they need to stand on their own 2 feet. no, they're not ready. but we do not let them stand __ we will not allow them to stand on 2 feet. we are there for the long haul.

host: we been showing you photos from the ceremony. it has been called largely symbolic in the papers this morning. doesn't mean anything to you, the ceremony that happened? caller: no it does not. again, there's still a lot of open wounds. i'm sure being emotional about it. i realize that things have to come to an end __ from this perspective that we have to move on. i like the notion __ i have learned alongside a lot of my nato colleagues __ some of the best medical professionals who worked on our wounded, and have worked

admirably, and showed tremendous courage. the notion that here we are as a group __ that strikes home. but the notion is over, it is not over. host: thank you for calling. here's a tweet fromjohn mccain. he set out a picture alongside it. ted is up next.

caller: thank you. these two countries do not have armies. this is not war __ these are massacres. the thing with the __ let me give you a scenario __ when i was in the fifth grade, i was a kid who sat down during the pledge of allegiance. when i got drafted and got sent to vietnam __ me and my men got ambushed. a vietnamese man was shaking

his head, he spoke perfect english, he had been educated in harvard __ he said why are you here fighting us. when you are doing these horrible things to a country __ i have been in war __ we got slaughtered by the vietnamese. we lost that one. like i said, i was drafted. i did not see any ramble __ rambo over there either. host: how do you think is what compares to other wars? caller: first of all, you need to get that name war out of the situation. i have been in war, this was not war. this was invasions and massacres.

if i knew that 9/11 was an inside job put on by this government __ i know you know that. host: all right, some conspiracy theory. we are trying to how you will remember the war in afghanistan. we will take your calls for the next 10 minutes or so. we also want to keep you up_to_date on some other stories going around the country. some of the headlines from this morning. this from the washington times __ present obama plans to do transfer dozens of guantánamo bay detainees.

one story on that missing airline __ this from the "wall street journal." the missing fight has stirred some old debates on safety. if you want to read more on that story, it is in the "wall street journal." this, from the "washington times" __

[video clip] >> this week we had an event at cdc __ semi maybe was exposed to live a bowl of virus. >> it is obviously unacceptable to have any mishandling of the ebola materials. it is also important to keep this in context. there is no risk to the public. onlyy one technician was exposed. so far she is showing no sign of the disease. i visited the lab __ they have been studying ebola for over 20 years without any incident. they have saved thousands of lives.

people around the world look to us for leadership, the kind of leadership that they have showed on the crisis. host: we have about eight minutes left on the segment. we asked this morning, how will you remember the war in afghanistan. of course, this coming one day after the ceremony marking the end of nato's combat mission in afghanistan. on the same day, taliban spokesman released a statement according to the "washington times." he said the insurgents fight would continue. the line for afghan war veterans is open as well.

dale, good morning. how we remember the __ will you remember the war on afghanistan? caller: i was in the air force. i was there in 2002. i agree with most of the comments. there is a lot of different tribes and factions of it there. it's not easy for them to come together and have solidarity and

have security for the entire country to where they can fight off the taliban. i agree that the president is on the right track. getting them to take care of their own security. like one of the callers said, if we don't start than we never will -- and they never will. i think it has really missed what the president is doing. it's missed by the american people because he is very methodical and is not rationally go into making the decisions he is making. as far as us making that transition i think we have to do it at some point.

if we down to, -- if we don't, like the other caller said, they will never do it. host: jody from twitter says -- what do you make of that assessment that it was lost? caller: for one, we went there to get osama bin laden. we got osama bin laden. there is a different culture. the taliban is probably more of an integral part of the country in that region. i don't think we will ever totally defeat them. like i said, by putting the afghan people out front like

he did in iraq -- he is putting the coalition out front and we are not the ones fighting the war but we are supporting them. that is so key right there. it is missed by everybody. that is the key because they will be the ones making the decisions and fighting for their country. we are supporting so it's not us. we are taking on a supporting role and that is key right there. that, to me, could be considered a level of success. host: from twitter -- richard from massachusetts, on our line for independents - caller: good morning. i think this was a waste of

lives that we lost over there and a waste of money. this was not a war. it was an occupation of a country. like the gentleman from california said, we are driven by money. as long as we are driven by money, we will go where the money is. there is oil over there and all kinds of gas and everything over there. that is why we are really the terrorists, not them. they are fighting against us because we invaded them in 1991 and we built bases when we went into kuwait. that's why our towers were taken down because they knew we were going to stay there and that's why they came after us. they don't want to kill us because they hate us. they want to kill us because we are invading them. host: that will be our last call

in this segment -- this will be our last call in the segment good morning. caller: i think what obama should do is strip the republicans of their diplomatic immunity and have them interrogated who were employed during 9/11. when i spoke to mohammed atta in person, he said he was hired by a republican to send those planes into the pentagon. it was their idea to change it around. host: when did you speak to him in person? caller: this was prior to 9/11. he had is 12 wives and he was there. i actually called the fbi who had four of the people arrested. this one did not get arrested. after 9/11, he told me it was a texas republican that took them from their country and sent them to mexico and they stay there for eight months while they learned spanish and then they

use that ability to be able to get across the border. host: that will be our last caller in this segment of "washington journal." up next, liz chatterton joins us along with philip stutz to examine the key campaign of political landscape issues in 2015 and look ahead to the emerging 2016 presidential campaign. we will switch gears later and talk about the growing cost of higher education and increasing question about whether the cost is working. we will be right back. ♪ ♪

>> new year's day on the c-span networks, here are some of our featured programs -- 10:00 a.m. eastern, the washington ideas form, energy conference -- conservation with david crane and t boone pickens and cake love owner warren brown and inventor dean kamen. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, the brooklyn historical society holds a conversation on race. at 8:00 p.m. eastern from the explorers club, apollo seven astronaut walt cunningham on the first manned spaceflight. new year's day on c-span2, just before noon eastern, author hectortobar about the 33 men bury in a chilean mine and then richard norton smith on the life of nelson rockefeller and at 8:00 p.m. eastern, former investigative correspondent for cbs news cheryl attkisson on her

experiences reporting on the obama administration. new year's day on american history tv on c-span3 -- at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the experiences and the role of women in the civil rights movement. at 4:00 p.m., the brooklyn college professor on the link between alcohol and politics in prerevolutionary new york city. at 8:00 p.m., cartoonist patrick oliphant jaws 10 presidential caricatures as the presidents are discussed in their most memorable qualities. new year's day on the c-span networks, for a complete schedule, go to www.c-span.org. tonight on "the communicators," amy mitchell of the pew research center on political polarization and were people get their news. >> you look at facebook in particular because they are the largest outlet that has the

greatest percentage of the american public using it in terms of special sites. about half of our respondents said they got political news from facebook in the last week. that puts facebook in particular on par with local television and some of the other really top outlets among the 89% of the population. it clearly plays a role in people's information and how they learn and who they are committing a -- how they are communicating with. we broke down the difference is ideologically, the consistent conservatives were much more likely to have circles of friends and key political views in line with their own political leanings more so than those that are mixed in -- and more than consistent liberals. consistent liberals are much more likely to actually de- friends somebody because of their political views. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on "the communicators" on c-span

two. "washington journal" continues -- host: for a monday political roundtable, we are joined by liz chatterton, president of the chattered in group and a democratic consultant and the republican consultant, philip stutz. we are about to begin the 2015 where the political headlines will be dominated by the 2016 presidential race, the early jockeying for that race. jeb bush is in the race early. is it a good move by jeff bush and announced that he is actively exploring his run? >> guest: i think it's a really good move. some people will run in the middle and it outmaneuvered ted cruz. you think about the donor race and that's where you look at it from a consultant standpoint.

jeb bush is solidifying his donor base. he will compete in texas with ted cruz and rick perry. he will compete against marco rubio in florida in the donor race. by coming out early, he solidifies the name brand he has an solidifies his donors. in a way it pushes them aside from the donor standpoint. in a way, he may have knocked down for five candidates by coming out first. i think it was a smart move. host: a story from "the new york times" - liz chatterton, is a good to be first out of the gate in this kind of race? guest: i could not agree more that for jeb bush to come out early and grabbed the middle which is what will be difficult for the republican party because there are so many people running. if you get into the middle and you start to lock down the big donors that are looking for the more establishment candidate you do that early and then you

can take a huge leap forward. i think jeb bush was really smart. i think he took the wind out of the sails for governor christie and will hurt senator rubio because it's florida and rick perry. there are a lot of people who jeb bush has got the jump on that are now going to be struggling more for donors. i think a big one is mitt romney who is still out there thinking he may run again. i think jeb bush takes mitt romney's base. that's probably a big reason why he got in early. host: talk about the 2016 democratic primary field. when will we see a likely hillary clinton announcement? when will more candidates get out early in the race the race is frozen. guest: the race is frozen and is frozen and there's not a race until she makes a decision. an interesting situation that we are waiting for hillary. for two years my friends and

family have in listening to me say i don't think she is going to run. i think i am wrong. i think she will run. she is interviewing staff and i think she is getting ready to make some announcements. but i don't understand is why she is waiting. i don't understand what benefits are other than she keeping everybody else out. the democratic donors, unlike the republicans, are sitting there with no one coming for them because everyone the democratic party is waiting for her to make a move. host: your thoughts? guest: it's like waiting for goffman. for my republican standpoint, i laugh at this because democrat nominees including hillary represent the old white party were the republican potential nominees have an african-american, to hispanics and an indian which is quite the dynamic. i think what you are seeing in this election cycle is candidates -- they used to come out really early like a day after the midterms and we are seeing more candidates wait.

on the republican side, you will see a ton of candidates. they are trying to show up there donor base. joe biden will not get in any time soon and manly will be the first time -- will be the first one in before anybody and elizabeth warren is out there and has no reason to jump in. hillary does not see the advantage of jumping in right now. i think that's what we are seeing. host: we are talking about the republican democratic primary matchups. if you want to join the conversation with misschadderdo n and philip stutts, the lines are open. you brought up elizabeth warren what are your thoughts on her?

do you think she will run? will she have more influence by not running? guest: i think of hillary does not run which is looking less likely but if secretary clinton does not run elizabeth warren will run. if hillary clinton runs, elizabeth warren does not run and i think it's that simple. i think senator warren is fascinating right now. she is beginning to represent the populist end of the democratic party. in some ways, is counter to president obama. it's very fascinating. we have seen draft movements not work before. we have seen draft elizabeth warren but we don't know if that would work. i think she is sitting out there and enjoying the limelight i also thank as a get into the republican senate in the new year, i think she really will

carve a herself as one of the big populist and more liberal races in the senate like ted kennedy which is the cg occupied. i think that's where she is moving unless secretary clinton does not get in the race. guest: tony robbins talks about one of the most important aspects to success is modeling and i think elizabeth warren is modeling with the tea party did. when president clinton was elected, we saw the tea party born. this is an economic conservative movement.

economic conservatives said we are pulling the party over to the right side on economic policy. i think what you are seeing with senator warren is exactly that on the left. she is saying that president obama has negotiated too much with republicans and given into much. congress has set by them is not really jumped out and gone against the president on this. i will pull our base back to the left and try to get the party back to the left. host: if you want to join the conversation, the phone lines are open -- we are talking about 2016 and the political landscape ahead and who your favorite candidates are. we want to know you you are supporting. we will start with leslie from maine on our line for republicans -- caller: good morning. host: you are on. caller: i'm a hard-core conservative and i went to the republican convention in bangor

and i would never support jeb bush because he is too pro-immigration. i would stay at home before i would vote for him. host: immigration as an issue in the republican primary -- guest: it's a big issue because we have to grow our base. we are losing minority votes. we have the ability to grow and while i would certainly see your point and agree, there has to be some middle ground republicans have to come to or we will lose every single presidential election in the future. there is a lot of different proposals out there and there will be a very robust debate in 2016 amongst the 25 candidates that will run. the jeb bush's stance on immigration is a problem in this party, no doubt about it. is there someone who can come up with a position that meets in the middle that primary voters

can accept? that's the key to this race. immigration will dominate especially the media. they want to talk about this bread they know it's a divide in the party and they will bring it up as often as they can. maybe the goal is the republican congress takes us off the table for presidential nominees in this upcoming fiscal session with the homeland security budget out there but that's the key. can congress take this off the table and lead republican candidates to talk about something else? host: let's get your thoughts on immigration but i want to point out the latest polling on the republican primary field very early but former florida governor jeb bush is said to have a largely over the republican field according to a new cnn poll. he wins 23% of the republican vote right now well ahead of chris christie who gets 13%.

the story noted that conservative ben carson follows chris christie with 7% and former arkansas governor mike cockapoo and rand paul coming in at 6%. -- mike huckabee and rand paul coming in at 6%. guest: there is going to be a big, robust argument about immigration and the republican primary. in 2012 we saw this. it was a robust and defying issue. it may even be more so in 2016 specifically because the president has put immigration back on the table. if i'm senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky and taking over the republican senate, i'm sure he's got a list of things that republican presidential candidates wish he would take off the table for them before they really get into 2016, m agree -- immigration being the top. i don't think senator mcconnell will take up a major immigration restructuring but speaker john boehner says it's dead in the

house. i think republicans will have to deal with immigration. philip is right, if the republican party does not recognize the value of a moderate immigration policy, they will continue to lose presidential races. presidential races are countrywide even though we have an electoral college, they are not state like we saw in the midterm elections. a state like california or texas or florida or new york will have a greater impact on presidential elections when you have more minority-based voters coming to the polls. they do not come as often. the republicans have to deal with immigration but you listen to leslie on the phone and there is a hard-core constituency of the ones who show open primaries who have very distinct feelings on this issue. . guest: where we come from is political consulting. we are not talking about whether

the policy should be an acted on but where these people should get elected. host: what is your experiment in the area? guest: i have been on for presidential campaigns. we have had to run these demographic numbers me talk about jeb bush jumping into a lead, i left these articles. all that matters is iowa, new hampshire and north carolina. it's obvious that the jeb bush name has immediate recognition. every republican candidate in some of the democratic candidates will be elevated during this campaign and then they will be brought back down. that is how it always works.

herman cain was living the republican primary at one point and got knocked down. nude gingrich was leading in 2012. everybody leads at some point. iowa was rick santorum. it's who goes into iowa or new hampshire or south carolina and come out of those not killed off enough. the majority of the candidates will be knocked out and they will be a real battle on this which is like the southeastern conference which can be incredibly fascinating. host: you also served as the get out the vote director. liz chatterton was a board member of the executive for the american association of political consultants.

they're here to take your questions and comments this morning as we have our political roundtable for the next 45 minutes or so. illinois on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning i would just like to say that i don't know who participated in this cnn poll or if they announce it to the public. i think it would have turned out differently. if the powers that be want to make jeb bush the republican candidate, they obviously want to throw the presidency back to another democrat because somebody people will stay home. guest: i actually agree with that. "the new york times" article that said donors are trying to decide the primary between jeb bush and chris christie, that's ridiculous. the donors don't ascites primaries. -- don't decide primaries. the article indicated that

people who support jeb bush will come out and try to eliminate a lot of the field and the robust debate, that's ridiculous. we need to have a robust debate and see how they perform in iowa and south carolina and new hampshire so host: it's a valid host: point. let's go to our line for democrats. maxine is waiting in taylorsville, illinois, on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i don't believe hillary will run. i have said it all along. i don't believe she will run mainly because of her age and she is an old tired gun and i think she will be involved politically in the democratic cents with everything but as far as running, i don't think she will run but as -- but if elizabeth warren runs, i would definitely vote for her. guest: i could not agree with you more. in many ways, i have not thought that the secretary was going to

run but i am starting to change my mind. philip hit on this that we are consultants. we are not policy makers and we get these folks elected and then we move about our lives. one of the things we look at in pure elections is what is happening behind the scenes. hillary has been interviewing some very high profile political operatives to be her managers. i don't think you make those moves publicly as she has been doing if you are not seriously thinking of running for president. i am surprised that she is not thrown her hat in yet but i don't think you go about interviewing the level of political operatives she's talking about bringing on as a manager if you are not seriously thinking about running. host: if she is running, philip went through the strategy of the early primaries for republicans.

talk a through the early primary strategy for hillary clinton. guest: it's interesting because the question is always go to iowa or not. if i was working for the republican party and i'm not but if i was looking at these more moderate folks who are running like jeb bush, chris christie, i would tell them to skip iowa and go straight to new hampshire. iowa is an insider insider insider process. i have seen up close in personal and it's fascinating but it is the insidery of the insidery. for the republican party the more conservative element in iowa control the process. folks like rick perry or marco rubio or certainly somebody like a rick santorum is going to do very well in iowa. more moderate people like jeb bush or chris christie not so much. i would tell them to go straight to new hampshire where is -- where it is a more open process.

on the democratic side it is the opposite for it if you are hillary clinton, go to iowa and rack up a big win. you will have very little opposition most likely. you understand the process, you didn't eight years ago, and i think you come out of their and can wipe away any opposition as you going to new hampshire. host: does she have the bigger advantage with any insiders game in iowa? guest: she does. this is part of what some people don't like about her. in this case it will play to re-strengthen 2016 but in 2008 it played against her when people were looking for an outsider. they found one and now we are looking more toward who really gets the inside process that we as democrats can trust to still be a good -- a good democrat but run the table and when the election? right now secretary clinton is that candidate. host: a question from twitter --

guest: that's a good question. it's not going anywhere. you can be disenchanted or get involved in the process. the supreme court has ruled that money and politics is free speech. it has been decided by the cement court and is not going anywhere. it will probably grow between the parties based off of the cromnibus that just passed a few weeks ago. host: what was in there to allow that? guest: it allows the national political party committees to take more than they were able to receive previously. i think it went from $32,500 to [indiscernible] host: will this reassert control

from the party committee? guest: that's right. in 2004, i had a long discussion with the man running the bush campaign and some of the democrats came out with these different organizations that were sort of affiliates or side-by-side with the democratic national committee and we ran everything in the 2014 through the republican national committee for the campaign. he said this election will tell us where the future of money is going to go in politics and will it run through outside groups? over the last 10 years especially with the supreme court decision, it has come from the outside groups on the policy committees diminished. that will change a lot. based off of what just passed. the party committees will have more power and more money. go back to the question -- the money has been deemed free speech. is there to stay. guest: i could not agree more, it's not going anywhere and i

can see how it can be disillusioning for people. i completely agree that the law or the amendment in thecromnibus that was in the recent bill was meant to try to take some power away from the super pac's who have been authorized by the supreme court and are out there running a mock on both sides of the aisle. they are spending millions of dollars with absolutely no accountability to anyone. host: for people who want more transparency, is that a good thing? guest: i think so. it will be easier to look at those reports and see who has donated and where was spent. it's not easy to do that for a super pac right now. when sheldon goldstein propped up the presidential campaign, we all knew about that because the press reported it. that's one incident and we just saw $4 billion spent in the 2014 midterm elections.

no one really knows who spent it or where it went. that was on both sides of the aisle. $4 billion. if people do not like this amount of money, then get involved. $4 billion in the midterm and2/3 of americans stayed home and we saw some of the lowest voter turnout in american history in the midterm election. what does that mean? it means the money is winning but not in the way the money is supposed to be winning. it means the money is chasing people away which you can argue that means people are using less money but that's not the way it will work. americans have to take their money back from the government not let the money win. host: we also have a line for independents. this is from washington, d.c., good morning. caller: good morning i have a

question about hillary. i think she will run. i want to know if you think she is giving space and time for her announcement not just based on keeping it for the other incumbents but for the scandal that was leaked about her towards the end with benghazi and negative press pulled up by some conservative groups? is that why she is waiting to announce her run for the presidency? guest: perhaps, but the bigger question is is she waiting to see if anyone else is really making any moves? i don't know why she is waiting. if i was advising hillary clinton i would tell her to get in and tell her to announce with gusto and tell her to wipe the table clean of anyone else and take all the money and establish yourself as the result of nominee and run for president

and the eventual winner for the next two years. i would tell her to go in full throttle and scare everybody else out. she did not really do that in 2008. i don't think there is an obama waiting in the wings but that does not mean that she should not take it more seriously. host: the caller was wondering if hillary clinton may be is waiting at the issue of benghazi. doesn't matter how long she waits for the republicans to revisit that issue? guest: everybody knows she will probably run. she has 100% name id. the second she comes out, she becomes the target not only among republicans but democrats as well. maybe they are holding back to take the focus off of the criticism for a little while.

i'm sure they are lining up their donors and money. i do know know if there's anything wrong with staying patient and avoiding being the target. host: another year perhaps? guest: oh yeah. host: could she wait that long? guest: i'm saying you've got a year so she can wake -- she can wait a few weeks or months. host: what is too long? guest: i think he needs to get in before the summer. i think that will happen. host: also an outline for independents mike from north carolina, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have no experience but i would like to consult with ms. cha

dderdon. i have never thought that hillary clinton was not running. she is a power-hungry narcissist. i don't think she has ever considered not running, that's my opinion. i would love to ask the republicans consultant, why in the world do we always -- what is the republican party always let the liberal mainstream media moderate the debate? my second question is -- is it true that all the ones who voted for mccain had turned out for romney that the election might have turned out different? host: we will let them take those comments. perhaps you can start with debate moderators. guest: i think the republican national committee has gone out and are putting in stricter parameters. one of the things you see when

the party is having list of cases it's an old strategy -- sometimes our party looks back at what happened in the past and things we have to do something to fix that. in 2012, we did not have a good bench of candidates other than mitt romney that could win. this year, we've got 25 candidates that can run and of those, 17 are incredibly smart a lot of governors, a love senators per it we have a strong policy oriented presidential field. the best presidential field the republicans have ever seen. let's have as many debates as possible. i don't care if a liberal media person moderates the debates. we've got smart people that can handle these questions. they have implemented real policy ideas in their states. this is the most exciting time to be a republican in a presidential race. host: will too much money be

spent to attack each other and then turn around in a general election and have less cash and all these flaws aired? guest: i understand that. part of the greatness of our democracy is having a robust debate. maybe i have a problem with that when our bench are a bunch of characters and clowns but we've got an incredibly strong policy oriented, people who have not talked the talk but walked the walk in their own states come a time of governors and interesting an incredible reformer they have done taxes and education and corruption and health care. this is what we want in the republican party so let's talk about that. host: do you think governors it as make the best presidential candidates? guest: i do because they are executives. host: let's go to the republican line from miami, florida, good morning. caller: hi, i was in the marine corps and i served under ronald reagan. it seems lately, at least the last two elections, that the

candidates the republicans have put forward are too far right. they seem to be a political wing of the ku klux klan. i would support bush or christie because they show they can work with all different kinds of people. the last two candidates republican party has put up have been big embarrassments. host: did you think mitt romney was too far right? caller: absolutely, way too far right. guest: i don't even know. john mccain has been accused of being a defector to the democratic party. he certainly has conservative present balls -- principles. when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts but he created the health care program that republicans did not like. he reached across the aisle to democrats and got along with ted kennedy. he moved to the right during the

presidential race and that was his biggest problem. i'm not sure i totally agree with that assessment. if you look at the republican nominees back to my first campaign which was senator dole, we have run the more moderate side of the party. george bush is conservative but with a compassion that is more middle-of-the-road. host: i want to read you this tweet -- this headline is from "the washington times" - guest: even i'm not looking forward to bush-clinton again. i enjoyed the 90's but they are gone. i can understand why voters would be looking for something new other than bush-clinton. at the end of the day, if you ask me right now on december 20

9, 2014, the democratic and republican nominees, i don't think jeb bush will be the republican nominee. it's incredibly likely that hillary clinton will be the nominee and i do think it will be a problem for her in some ways. she has 100% name id and a lot of her -- the sentiment around her is baked in. it's done. you either really like her or you doubt prove there is not a whole lot of middle ground left on hillary clinton. the earlier caller called her a narcissist bread that's a fair assumption from a certain point of view and a people are saying she's a narcissist, i don't know how you would tell a candidate to overcome being a narcissist or people thinking you are a narcissist. i think hillary will face a tougher electorate in 2016 than she ever would have back in the 90's or even back in 2008. at the same time, i hope you all have thousands of debates because i am looking forward to the 30 nominees gathering away

on television saying crazy things that we can use against you in television ads. i think this will be a fascinating election, i really do. as democrats, we don't want to have that many debates on a certain level because it gives rise to more saturday night live fodder and rise to headlines per the more you guys talk, the crazier it gets. with all the money that is out there, all of a setting come you get tv ads running in south carolina making fun of a gaffe and it can get very confusing for people like us. it can be fun but it can certainly be more interesting but more confusing for the voters. bush-clinton, i would not like to see it. host: you mention voters have strong opinions one way or the other about hillary clinton and that's a subject of a story in today's "the wall street journal."

guest: to me, the most interesting thing you just read -- where is she with liberals? host: 59. guest: that is low. she should be in the 70's or 80's with liberals. i appreciate you see that and when you read that i thought that maybe where the elizabeth warren thing is coming from. that is the opening.

it's not simply because liberals will choose the next president. they will choose the next nominee and that's what is different about primaries, even presidential primaries than the general election. in a primary the more conservative on the republican side and a more liberal on the democrat side choose the nominees for better or worse. that's the way we have more to this out. general elections tend to be more about swing voters. she is a long primary process to go through. if she is only pulling 53% of liberals, that is trouble. i did not know that. host: scarsdale, new york, our line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. my question is -- aren't there a lot of hispanics who came to this country and did things right and did everything by the book and they don't like a lot of these people just crossing the border and coming to this country? isn't that true?

aren't there many people out there who feel that way and to feel that kind of denigrates their status here? you know what i am saying. host: how does that translate for you in the republican primary field. caller: you cannot just give legalization to all these people walking across the border. they are not even deporting criminals. there were two or three agents on the order that got killed by people who have been here before and been deported. there has got to be a stop to what's going on. there just has to be. host: talk about the impact of the president's recent executive order on immigration. guest: it has energized the republican base. there is no republican candidate

running who will be for any kind of amnesty. they will have to be strong about security on the border. in all polling you cannot say the word "pathway." the president's actions were incredibly bold, may fall under its own weight, make and with a republican congress will have to fund the budget. it will be a fascinating debate going into 2016. i don't think there will be one republican presidential candidate the says pathway or legal status. you can already see jeb bush is backed off another issue called common core. he has not backed up what he said let's call it something else and implement stuff -- tougher standards. people are positioning

themselves in this primary. republicans that are angst ridden over the immigration issue will be satisfied with some candidates and maybe not satisfied with others but they will not be angry. i just think any republican primary candidate can -- can come out with any host: kind of pathway to citizenship. albany, georgia, airline for democrats. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. the most recent vote in congress to increase the limit that an individual can give for campaign contributions -- i think it was around $32,000 an individual could give. they increased it to $320,000. they did it with a knife at their throat. there are going to be shut down so they stuck this on a bill and got it passed.

what is so great about an individual being able to give 10 times the amount they were able to give? the secret to win the election is who has the most money and everybody knows it. the koch brothers give the most money to the republicans. i want to get a movement started to boycott every product that is koch brothers and what they sell. there's always an alternative to what you can buy and there is more than one product on the market. let's see if we cannot get the koch brothers profit margins go down. i'm sure it won't bother them because they are multimillionaires. to have them running our country, that is absurd. host: we talked about the increase of contribution limits for party committees but you can pick up on the role of the koch brothers. guest: he makes an excellent point.

this happens on both sides of the aisle. i think the republicans public have more java a large donor base and have been doing this longer and the coat others are a little more outfront parliament as the democrats of pride to -- have tried to neutralize them but we have koch brothers as well. both sides are spending unbelievable amounts of money. as we said earlier, moving more of this money back into the party is a good thing. people will be able to see it spent and understand it a little bit more. at the same time, you're never going to be able to stop big money in politics but it's like water at the top of the mountain, he will find a way down. if people want to take a personal stand and not by koch brothers products, that might be hard. they make many things. everyone has americans has that right. we saw super pac's spend a record amount of money in 2014 and 2/3 of the nationstate home and they probably think they are

sending a message but they are not. they are saying i will longer care about my government and no longer want to participate in my government because somehow that means my government will change. that is not true. government is made and elections are won by people who show up. if the american people choose to not show up even though record amount of money is being spent that is not sending a message. it is saying the money is working. at this point, i think you will see that most of that $4 billion spent on the republican side and now we have a new republican senate. i am hoping that what people realize is if they let the big money dictate their actions they will continue to not see the results they want to see. it will not stop. i think people don't understand that. host: we've got about 15 minutes left.

arkansas, airline for independence, good morning. caller: caller: good morning. i think most of us think __ the foreclosures go to the people. obama is the worst thing we've ever had. this immigration thing __ it is illegal, they should be put back. things like that. the big money __ pulling the strings of our presidents and politicians. we do share with __ whichever

school for politics. host: several suggestions have been around for a while on fixing campaign finances. what about his suggestion to split donations equally between all candidates? guest: that would be great, but it will not happen. money is in politics. it is a form of free expression as defined by the supreme court. we can talk about how we can change this, but unless the presidential campaign makes the number one issue,, and the issue that they will run on, nothing will change. the supreme court has decided that. we may see one of those as a big issue in the campaign. money will not be a big issue

in the campaign in 2016. host: jack is calling in on the republicans line. caller: can someone tell me how shutting down this out_of_control administration last year hurt the republicans? do they not win by a huge majority over the country? i mean, really, how did it hurt the republicans? guest: well, it didn't. i think if they had shut down the government before the midterm elections it would have. they shut it down one whole year before the elections. most americans have forgotten about by the. i would disagree with the collar __ republicans did not

win by a huge majority. they were racist in margins in alaska, colorado. but, they did win. guest: the obama machine was mostly turned on in that 2014 elections. there was a paltry __ supposed to be no stopping it. i tend to agree, i like when republicans stand for something that they believe in. they shut down the government for a while to make a point. i do not think it hurt them at all host: mississippi is one of the states that will have gubernatorial races.

guest: mississippi will not be. louisiana will be __ every bite runs in the primary. if too many republicans jump in, a democrat could make it out. that is an interesting race to watch. kentucky will be a much more contested race. guest: i would agree. also, look at the races happening in virginia. there's no gubernatorial race in 2015, but the entire state senate is up. most people would say what does it matter if the state senate is up. they are only in the minority by one seat. the state senate will be very

competitive __ with the majority of competitive states in northern virginia. if you're looking for a bellwether __ i would take a look at the state senate races. if the republicans run the table of those races, that is a big indicator as to where we are moving in 2016. if democrats run the table, i think that is an interesting indicator. host: for those who question the bellwether reading __ we see what happens nationally in 2016. guest: again, razor thin margins. 200 votes out of 3 million cast __ that is the __ that is razor

thin. used to be right in fairfax, now they are trending blue. if they go read in 2015, that is an indicator for 2016. host: good morning. caller: i have two points. the democrats should enjoy these two next years. what about all these killings going on here in america? every night here in tennessee, someone is dying. you are not addressing that. we need help here. goodbye. guest: she makes some valid points. i would agree.

what we stand for from the republican party, we disagree. we stand for hard work in earning your way. not having the government there to support you. on the murder side, i agree. there were more shootings in chicago over the holidays __ we do not see you on the news. the present has hoisted out sharpton to be the spokesperson. i do a lot of education reform work. i work with extremely strong black leaders who are working in the city to get better options for education. they are extremely strong african_american leaders who are trying to change the country for the better. they are trying to get better options for african_american families. these are democrats, by the way, they're not republicans.

but, we never see real leaders hoisted to the top of the mountain. china help families, __ trying to help families. host: liz chadderdon to see a leader who could address that in hillary clinton, warren, biden, people who have been mentioned. guest: we really do not have a leader who is poised to address that in the democrat party. everybody who just named, all wonderful leaders, i'm not sure any of them have the credibility to address these issues. in fact, hillary clinton being at only 53%approval rating for

liberals is an opening for someone who can do that. on the top of my head, i cannot think of any current democrat leaders who can just that, but some insurance. i'm hoping that in the upcoming democratic primary egg is addressed in a much your way it has in the past. host: a good place to go you want to keep track of all the different candidates __ larry sabado of the university of virginia has his rankings. sabado's crystal ball. you can go down to the republican candidates as well. there is no first year, but the second tier dominated by jeb bush, rand paul, chris christie. a few minutes left to to talk

politics 2015. from north carolina on our public in line. caller: good morning. my question is __ the gentleman who called earlier about the koch brothers. i guess he does not understand that the koch brothers employs 65,000 employees. i think we need more koch brothers. we need people to employ people and pay them. it is amazing to me. host: what you do for your job? are you one of those folks? caller: i wish i was.

i would have a really good job if i were. guest: they also give hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity. people could have complaints about their political views but they are trying to help people as well. host: allen is up next. caller: i do not think it is the money so much, it is the lies that they put out on the air. every political ad should be the truth, and only the truth. no lies, no anything else. that would cut obama's speeches down to about five minutes. host: the direct mail assistant has won several awards __ let's

talk political ads. guest: i swear on the bible __ political ads do not tell lies. i've been doing this for nearly 15 years. i started when i was seven __ just kidding. i have never lied in political mail. i would say that 99% of direct mail. the problem is, no one follows up. with the internet, it is an easy thing to do now. the truth is __ it is not lives. if i'm the prosecution is not my work to do extensive work for them. if i'm the defense, it is not my job to do the prosecution side. again, you can say, we are part of the problem. i've been told that __

including from my mother. however, i will stand by as a 15 year political associate and member of the political consultation board __ i've never lied in an ad and i do not think any my brother and have lied. guest: everyone is held accountable for the political ad. there's a lot of accountability, more accountability that we've ever had. guest: i agree. host: ronnie on the line. caller: my question is for liz chadderdon. they say that two thirds of the people do not show up to vote.

they say that if you're a voter __ republican or democrat __ eventually catches up to you. i think the recent elections that took place, i think that is a fact. you can only get to wait so long. host: liz? guest: i would disagree. i think we're all trying to get our views out __ here in washington, and in any situation when you want the world to know your side of the story. you will only tell your side of the story. i do not think the american public is stupid. in fact, i think they're very savvy. at the same time, i think they're very overwhelmed with what is happening in america and in their own lives. sometimes, they do not do their homework. at the same time, should any

political consultant or politician be lying to the american public? no. i would disagree that that is what is happening. host: a lot of politicians overpromise and do not keep their promise. people interpret that as a lie. host: a good place to and. phillip stutts and liz chadderdon, thank you. up next, we'll talk with goldie blumenstyk on the growing cost of college. we'll be right back. ♪

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continues. host host: earlier this year we took a tour of the top college campuses. the past couple days, we've been revisiting. today, we're talking about the cost of college. the rising cost of college education. we're joined by goldie blumenstyk from the chronicle on higher education. let's get to what is behind the cost of education. is it faculty, infrastructure, administrative cost? guest: all of the above. higher education is very people driven.

insulate people driven industry with some very high train and in some cases highly compensated people. there are a lot of people who work in these colleges. they are also in effect small cities. they have the infrastructure of the city __ buildings, maintenance, etc. host: here is a chart showing the cost of education with inflation rates. see the red line going all the way up __ the cost of college education. guest: that factors are going to inflation are very different __ they are not so much people __ higher ed has been criticized for this __ they have its own inflation index.

it is a self_referential index __ that is why the criticized for. it takes into account the sort of cost they going to hiring personnel. in fairness to higher education, there are a lot of reasons to be critical toward. those who work in higher education, that cost goes up at about the same rate as hospital or dental care. host: is not like pay rates have exploded in the last several years? guest: no, in fact, pay has remained pretty flat over the past several years. host: design of the cost of college education, is it worth it? we want to your thoughts. students can call in. parents.

educators. as we said, this segment born from our road trip around the country on a top 10 college tour. one of our stops was ohio state. we talked to the provost, and he talked about the affordability issue. [video clip] >> if you asked me what is the single biggest issue that keeps me awake at night it is this issue of affordability. it is no secret that over the last couple of decades the cost of higher education has risen faster than just about the cost of everything else __ including the cost of tuition. i __ at ohio state, we're

taking this issue very seriously. we want to make sure that our education remains affordable to students that want to come here. a few things that we have done __ if i look back at the last six years __ i will use that window __ tthe tuition increase at ohio state has just been under 2.5%. during the seven_year window, we've had a 0% increase in tuition for four out of those seven years. this is an attempt to keep costs at where they are at. the reason, by the way, for why they have risen __ in the structure, also the things have

arisen, like requirements to providing amenities to students that students want nowadays. also, to build a strong academic program. host: that was the provost at ohio state. is unusual, what is happening at other campuses? guest: he is describing a natural phenomenon. he says the costs are going up to comply with regulations, that is true. he did not talk about __ some costs have occurred in administration. that is a very contested issue. some talk about as administrative load. others talk talk about it how

they need to respond to regulations. relations on eligibility of athletics. regulations rated to disability. all that is true. at the same time, colleges have been expanding marketing, communications. as an alumnus, we get these publications all the time __ boston college is produced magazines for their alumni about their schools, their progress. host: is this something that colleges have to do in order to compete? guest: they argue that they have to do it. there is a competition for students __ for a particular type of students __ those who can pay for it.

most colleges do not have big endowments. they usually pay out of their own tuition revenues. some of the money coming in for tuition goes back out in the form of scholarships. the more a college can attract a student who can pay more tuition, the better. host: is happening at public universities, private universities? guest: both. host: goldie blumenstyk is the author of a book on the cost of higher education. she is with us for the next half hour. back to the lines.

caller: good morning. when i was in college we lived in a normal dorm. now they have suites. the cost of those suites is astronomical. by the time you're done paying for housing and food __ a cost as much as education. i do not know how a kid can go to university. by the way, the cost of a private school __ by time you're done paying for that, kids are so far in debt, they cannot get out of it, going to a private school. guest: they are now called residence halls.

host: where did you go to school? guest: colgate. standards are higher now. i cannot imagine someone going into my old dorm and living that. colleges pay a lot for fancy facilities, some of them are quite lavish. at the same time, they're not many students who want to go to those dorms that they caller talks about. people do not track those numbers as much as tuition numbers. the issue with room and board __ even if you were going to college, you would have to live somewhere and eat. students would be paying some of the anyway. i imagine, in many cases they could pay for more cheaply.

i think it is a bout of 14,000 or 15,000 average for room and board cost. host: we have a question for viewers __ is it worth it? michelle is next. caller: good morning. i think what we need to do to decrease the cost of college is change the whole format. i do not know why colleges for years, why not make it two years? why not make the last two years of high school career focused __ so that 70% of high school students who are not going to college can get out of high school with a career. i am a republican. why can't students get two years of tech school so they can be a technician, plumber,

whatever. i saw a statistic yesterday __ one in four girls do not finish high school. we need to catch these kids before they get out of high school. i think the cost of college also have to do with __ the federal government, sure we need help, but the more the government is willing to pay, the more the rates will go up. the schools know that as long as the federal government is paying for it, they can get what they want. they can get much money in the system as they want as long as the federal government is paying for. i went to college __ my first year was general ed. i had to take a swimming class, a piano class, it was a requirement. host: a lot to get into their.

on shortening the length of the college career __ the university of iowa present talked about iowa's three year degree program on the "washington journal." [video clip] >> let me say a few words about that. something we've been focused on the last seven years in student success and affordability. clearly, this is something that is a very high priority for me. i was a first_generation college student. it was a stretch for us to pay for college. i've a great deal of sympathy for students who are struggling, and looking for ways to attend college that do not cost them everything they have. in terms of trying to make college affordable __ we know there are a number of ways that we can do it. for example, a three_year degree. it will not be for our students, but it will be for

motivated students. we also have a student hot summer program __ allowing students to attend summer school for free. this will hhelp their progress toward a degree. we hope they can complete it in three years, and go on to be professionals. host: i will let you comment on shortening the length of college. guest: is a lot of effort on that movement. a lot of high school are offering early college. that program is growing across the country. what is interesting to iowa __

some students come back and want to live on campus. addresses the criticism that colleges only use their facilities five days a week. the iowa program encourages students to come back and use of facilities. the problem with these three of programs is cramming courses in __ for low income students, health grants were limited for summer. host: the other thing i want to pick up on is __ the governor saying it is easier to get student loans made easier for colleges to charge more for tuition. guest: it is the theory that is out there.

it even has a name __ the bennett hypothesis. it is hard to prove. there's correlation but not causation. it is a factor, but you cannot faithfully. reaso colleges like to be ambitious. i think they would do that without the federal government. host: we're getting your reactions to the cost of higher education. our line for students is next. hillary is waiting. caller: hi. good morning. in terms of financial aid and endowments. as a graduate student,

self_funded all the way through __ i do not feel endowments are adequately reinvested. you end up seeing a lot of students with a lot more money, that likely had a better preparatory education, get financial aid upfront. my university where i'm doing my graduate degree __ we've a complete lack of tenured professors, yet we have a billion_dollar endowment. it seems to be a little shady. it is not true across the board. guest: kudos to hillary for cell funny herself through school __ quite an accomplishment. the argument she is making __

this gets back to my was saying about merit aid. you offer someone a scholarship of a few thousand dollars __ encourages students to come. then, they will pay the restitution themselves. there's a lot of criticism of this kind of financial aid approach. they say it is awarding money to students who need it the least. host: compare that to need_based financial aid. guest: need_based aid is still the bigger piece of the pie. maybe 10% or 20% __ that is the money at the margins that makes the difference for a lot of students when they are deciding where to go to school. colleges are spending a lot of

money on this kind of financial aid. in some cases they are taking as much as 45% of their revenues that comes in as tuition, and putting it back out as financial aid __ not very sustainable. host: randy. caller: i'm also from iowa. i'm the youngest of six and i'm only one who graduate high school and went on to college. i went to grinnell college. when i went in, tuition was around $30,000. it is now upwards of $50,000. a lot of students speculated that it was competition, and keeping up with other liberal arts colleges in the area. as an educator, my question is

__ i've noticed that there is a large disconnect between what public schools and white colleges are doing. i do not feel like our high school are preparing students for the university. the last comment to make is __ the federal education loans __ has been my experience that students can take a huge amount _ of money_ mmore than they actually need. an 18_year_old who has the option of taking out $20,000 instead of $10,000 may not have the perspective that they need to make a wise choice. host: randy, where did you teach? caller: i teach social studies at the title i school. i'm seeing that the federal government is not helping __

the money and assistance this post a comment leave high school are not helping. host: randy are the things that you do to try and better prepare your students? caller: i think the demands of college at different than what they were 20 years ago. critical thinking __ thinking from lots of different perspectives. communication. of course, writing. these are skills that many young people do not have when they graduate from high school. guest: has a __ that is a lot to swallow. i visited grinnell a few years ago. it is one of the wealthiest universities in the country. they made a conscious choice a few years ago to raise the price.

there was a feeling that students going to grinnell could pay more. the school did not feel it was right to make a harder for some students, while others could afford to go. host: randy said $30,000 going in and $45,000 coming out, is that an unusually large increase? guest: i do not know the years when he went there, it is a bit higher than i would have imagined it to be. there is a high tuition model versus the low tuition model. he also talked a bit about preparation for students __ i should probably know more in maryland, when i have been reporting in california __ they have a system of their. it is called the a through z __

the criteria they need to meet to go to college. the students and know they need to meet all their requirements. it is not always well defined. host: we're asking college worth it. question from twitter __ guest: that is an individual choice. statistics show that we will all need some post secondary credential in the future to have a job. the demands of our economy are changing so much. when i graduated you do not need a college degree for as many jobs as you do now. the economy has changed. i think statistics will show you __ ggraduates with a b.a.

will learn a lot more money than students without one. if you look at statistics and averages, some sort of post secondary degree __ maybe not afford year college degree __ would be just as useful. host: some statistics on young adults who gone to college and are in the labor force. 41% of young adults up from 26% in 1980. what you won't make with a college degree __ here's a chart from the "new york times." you can see the chart from 1975 through 2013 __ rising average

of hourly paid. john is up next. caller: good morning. just a comment __ i have a purchasing manager in a community college. it is very important __ the conversation had __ how to acclimate students coming to college. we tend to scare us students away from the opportunity when we start to talk about the cost. what is important to me is to start acclimate students in high school. we are at the main they quickly. obviously, the state of texas has a cost factor associated with students graduating.

a cost is related to a and b, instead of c and d. my question is, how can we better acclimate students to get them prepared? get them into a two_year environment and have them better able to be successful on the cost side for those major colleges. guest: high school education is the key. it is one of the biggest challenges in our country now. there a lot of high schools where the number counselors to students is one set 300 or 400 students. there a lot of high schools were college can't take __ students can take the college preparatory exams. john is right __ that is a problem. we should also cover the cost __ talk about the cost a little

bit. there are two prices in college education __ the sticker price and the net price. the net price is what families and students are paying, have to take into account financial aid. i think using points and know that on average __ the actual net price is about one third of what the sticker prices. the same thing for private college. host: how that changed over the past 10 years? guest: they are both gone up. the net price probably used to be more affordable for families. trish has gone up __ tuition has gone up a great deal. at the end of the day, you do not talk about the net price __ you are not giving a real

picture on what the cost of college is. host: let's talk to another student. let's talk to alida. caller: i like to know if you can just a couple concerns that i have. i'm a student. i'm 55 years old __ i also have a lot of work experience. i'm a nontraditional student. how does higher education address nontraditional students returning back to school? another concern is __ i transferred from ohio to michigan to go to school __ i had to retake a whole bunch of classes. it seems to me that these universities have different

curricula. wired school state to state forming more cohesive curriculum so you can transfer? host: can i ask you how much is it costing you to go to school? caller: i get $16,000 per year in student loans. i also work part_time. this is another concern __ why the cost for me is so high. this past semester i had to take biology, art, psychology. at 55, i am on my career path

__ i have an associates. this seems like a waste of money for me __ for nontraditional students at 55. guest: alida is a nontraditional student who is becoming a much more traditional student in higher education today. the problem you identified with the transfer credits is a huge one. it is a big challenge __ a big reason that colleges it criticized __ they get criticized for trying to protect their own turf. it is not always as easy as it sounds. within certain states, there are some places that have made smooth transitions between three colleges and four_year college. when you get out of those

rankings __ they collar articulation agreements __ when it do not have one of these agreements, it is harder. she is right, and it becomes very discouraging. there a lot of statistics out there to talk about the number of excess credits __ wasted credits __ this is not just the cost of the students, but also a cost to taxpayers. in some degree, even though there's less state money going into it, the still state money going into it. host: alida said she was taken on about $16,000 a year in cost. a topic that i was present addressed on this program when you're on a big ten tour. my fellow host asked about whether that much debt is worth

it. [video clip] >> is it worth a college education to come out of college and have $50,000 in student debt? >> you know, that is a lot of student debt. there are students __ 40% of our students graduate with 0 debt. of the remaining students that graduate with that, on average, their debt might be in the $25,000 range. this is something we watch very carefully. we can monitor the amount of money and know how much of that tthat is true need based debt. about half of that is true need

based debt __ wwhether families actually need to borrow in order to obtain a college degree. is it worth it? at that price, absolutely. i remember graduating with about $3000 of debt __ about the price of a car. again, our students are gradually with the debt level that is very manageable. host: would you agree that that's happening for most students? guest: again, it is a question of the outliers. this year, the people who calculate the statistic were not able to get enough data __ i think if the cancellation was included, the number would be a bit higher. is that too much?

the other day, i went online and looked at what the cost of a car is? it is much higher. statistics talk about the value of college and at what point you have a cost_benefit analysis. if you have a job, and not everyone does, but if you've got a degree and have a job, i think you can have it all paid off by your mid 30's. host: goldie blumenstyk is with us for the next half hour. if you want to follow her after the show on twitter, you can do so @chronicle. she's here to take your questions and comments for the next half hour or so.

frederick is on the line. caller: i am a parent. my kids are very smart. i'm a vietnam veteran __ i attended school before the draft __ when i came home, i finally got a degree. but, i realize now that the little education that i got helped me a lot, but it was a struggle __ financially. all of this campaign contributions __ the people running for office, if they would take a small percentage of that and invest in low income communities and families that cannot really afford to send their kids to school __ a

lot of this would be eliminated. host: any comments on frederick? guest: i think the statistics are very strong talking about education helping out people in communities. our statistics are not very good on helping low income kids go to school. it is the latter of social mobility. host: a question from twitter __ guest: i think they do a lot of market research now, more than they used to. a lot of colleges are adding masters degrees __ i think that is a way to attract more revenue and students, and make themselves more relevant in the economy.

host: kathy is up next. caller: good morning. i want to comment about the woman from the university who said __ colleges the cost of a car. when you think about it, the majority for your degree students live by the campus and do not own cars. when they graduate with their degrees, many of them have to buy a car to go to their job. guest: that is a good point. caller: it is a good point. guest: although, i am seeing statistics saying that many people are moving to cities now, not even getting a drivers license. caller: the only other thing __ i $30,000 of student that from

an associates degree in science. i took out some loans, and i graduate in 2012, and i can still not find a job with my degree. host: do you think it is worth it? caller: no. i'm 63 years old. host: that is kathleen. guest: the real problem with default rates is whether or not they have a job or not. students who have graduated with jobs are able to pay off the loan, those who do not make it the default rates. i should note __ community college, where you get an associates degree probably cost

$4000 per year __ some of that barring probably have to do a little bit with living expenses. host: a gallup poll on the top money problem. that is the gallup report from earlier this year. theodore is up next from south carolina. he is an educator. caller: i wanted to reiterate some of the statements about the 20% of high school students who need remedial classes when they reach college. i think that has been a real problem.

the net price comment was right on target. unfortunately, it is very hard to find what the true price is of college. in comparison between colleges is very difficult. the credit issue deftly have to be addressed. i've heard stories of people being in one state system, in another state school will not recommend the credits. this have to be addressed nationwide __ requiring some sort of credit to be shared between schools, may have been accredited by the same organization. i went to talk to high school programs. specifically, i am concerned about faculty, and the profession of teaching at colleges and university. it is a real concern. we've seen a jump in positions. we have a program in south

carolina where students go to committee college for a few years. then, they gone to a four_year university for the last two years. what happens is __ i left my high school teaching and went to university, and pursued my phd. i of course have a lot of debt. i've had difficulty finding a four_year college adjunct position. what i had to do was go to a committee college, and for_profit colleges, and work there. i found that i was teaching the same students who go to a four_year college for probably about 75% less than i would've received at a four_year college. i'm very concerned about the future of faculty and tenured positions. host: thank you for sharing your story. guest: he is on target.

there has been a gradual but definite transformation in college faculty. 40 years ago, probably 40% of faculty were tenured. now, it is probably about a quarter. that changes how students are being taught on campus, and how campuses work. paper __ for people who work like the caller do __ they maybe teach one or two classes. it is talked about what piecework. you do not think of higher education as an industry with piecework, but it is. host: are they considered employees with medical benefits? guest: no. that saves the college's money.

if you have the need for the course one turn, they bring on adjunct. if they do not need any class is the next term, they do not hire them. evidently has a big effect on how college is being taught. if you are a student in your professor adjunct, they often do not have an office. host: scott calling in from ohio. caller: my comment is more or less about how colleges are putting money out __ what they are charging students to get in. my other point putting money out is the money like the situation where now they are going to pay

him $8 million, maybe cut back on their staff and faculty instead of making kids pay so much money to get in, i think the education is more important to have somebody teach you how to play a sport. >> a subject we talked about on saturday when we talked about college athletic romance. the impact of high dollar athletic programs on the cost of education. >> yes, something i get into a little bit in the book i wrote. there are about two dozen that make profit on their sports programs. but there are a lot more sports programs than that. every college seems to have a sports program. schools subsidize all of them to a great degree, except maybe the top four programs and probably a few quiet ones we do not have

statistics on. $8 million, but not offsetting that and not offsetting at that level. definitely an man's the college is somehow justified in a way. i went to games that i was a college student and i like to go now as an alumni. it is not an area where we have a lot of transparency. taking into account students today, going back to college, a lot of them are subsidizing these romance as well. i do not expect these working parents would go to basketball games. classes this getting worse, or are things getting in the right direction? >> there is a group out there the knight commission, which is supposed to be a reformed group. , going backit continues to get frustrated

all around it. host: tampa, florida. marissa is a student. would you go to his cool? caller: the university of florida in gainesville, florida. guest: a lot of floridians today. caller: i wanted to know your opinion on the excess hours charge. basic the, if you take classes over a certain amount of credits you are charged almost 100% more for those classes than you would if you are under the limit. as a college student, i changed my major. i originally wanted to go to nursing school when i came here and i switched to free law. i know other students who also change their majors.

we are being penalized for pursuing degrees we want to eventually have our careers in here and what you think of the excess hours charge? >> what is the reasoning behind doing that? >> to some degree, is because money going into every student, as we talked about before, while it sounds great that the students have a lot of interest and have an interest in pursuing a bunch of different subject matters in learning a lot about is the taxpayers in the state are subsidizing this. a lot of schools want the students to get up and out. four years is good and we do not want to subsidize you for five years excuse of school. that is the thinking. it sounds counterintuitive because you think, students want to learn, but if the state is providing subsidies, they feel like they only want to subsidize four years worth of in education. >> to marissa's and spirits, what would you say to her? >> i do not have anything for

her. i guess if she is really committed to the programs, she needs to just, you know, perhaps find the credits in other ways. in florida, there are a lot of community colleges that offer four-year degrees. they probably take a lot out of community colleges and that would be a more affordable option. host: her recent book came out and she is with us until the end of the program, taking your questions and comments. next in alabama, also a student. caller: my question is just one. is there a possibility of them raising the federal pell grant? i noticed there has been steady increase in tuition costs. but i was reading a report about it recently heard what you think about that? what's the reports seem to show

the pell grant is covering a smaller and smaller percentage of the tuition costs. you know as well as i do what the budget situation looks like in washington these days. i cannot imagine there would be a major increase in the pell grant but congress can always surprise us. but i'm not sure that will happen. >> the comment on our twitter page, -- we will be looking for your questions and comments on twitter and fifth as well. you can also e-mail us if you want. in the meantime, linda is in columbia, maryland, on our line. good morning. >> good morning. i wanted to make a couple of quick comments and ask a question. there is a lot of generalization going on when you talk about

paying college tuition. we continue to hear that your average college graduate makes a lot of money in their lifetime. in order to do a true cost-benefit analysis, should we be looking at the value lately and not historically, and showing you have to eliminate the top and bottom percent of income earners? caps off percent will probably always look at a lot more than ever -- earn a lot more than anyone else. if you took on those categories, you would have a much editor figure these days. i am a strong believer in on-the-job training and high school programs and any other things for people to pull themselves out of poverty. >> linda makes a really good point. of course, if you're talking about higher education, a lifetime benefit, it necessarily can imagine after the first two

years. we also cannot predict the future very well. to some degree, they may not be right because what they are describing is what the benefits were of a degree in a different economy than the one we will have been 20 years. she is right you could speculate on that little bit scared but what else to go by? you can look at the current record but i do not know if it is fair to measure the value of the college degree by someone's earnings out. >>, and a question over e-mail. john writes in that students who earn large debts should have thought about that and planned accordingly. students who only need to learn skills to pursue a career should go to community college -- in terms of the question --

guest: he should look into income-based payment programs the government offers right now on student loans. that is an area not as many students are taking advantage of as they should be. there are only about 2 million students doing these income programs, even though the government has been trying to publicize them more. that is a way now for people who are borrowers. if you do not have an income, you could get a waiver on paying. it extends the life of your payment but it keeps the direct burden later -- lighter. >> let's go out to ohio. jim is waiting on our line for educators. good morning. >> good morning. i will try to go through this quickly. i know you have a lot of callers

waiting. i am 30 eight years a teacher seventh grade through high school and college. i have seen this from a lot of angles. i was adjunct at a two-year community college or something as they are normally termed. i will associate myself with everything theodore said 15 minutes go. he was right on the mark. the reason the average figures for faculty, you might have mentioned earlier pretty much stayed flat, is because they are paying whole bunch of faculty a whole bunch terms of adjuncts and the tenure track faculty prices have soared. someone teaches two classes a week. there is always a penalty for changing majors. plan better. i go on to say that adjuncts are very appropriate for a lot of the students who require ash

acquire develop mental programs. it is not a bad thing there were adjuncts around. i was a decent adjunct for civics. for a lot of the students who require development of programs it is a very appropriate thing. getting to personal developments, left out of the equation altogether, learning to appreciate art, let me talk a little bit more, when i went to college in the 60's, i began college and i was working in akron. my college expense for a year, and this is a good measurement was 100 times my hourly rate. if you took an hourly rate right now, nine dollars and our when people begin to work, he should be nine dollars a year for college tuition. you can see something has gone badly wrong -- wrong since the late 60's. there has been very little discussion in this about a lot of people, tens of thousands in every state who are working to

get a secondary credential. colleges and universities do very little. in ohio, ged programs are under the board of regents. i have taken a step to pull those people into the system. they have taken that step. that has been left out of your conversation. thank you for letting me have so much time here at classless pick up on any of his comments. -- time. host: let's pick up on any of his comments. guest: the rate around the country, communities in ohio were the winners. schools around ohio, they had made a big effort to get more students to graduate and get college degrees. there are efforts in communities to improve this college going rate in some cases. >> jim also bringing up the topic again about switching

majors, taking a longer time to graduate college. eric talked about students switching majors and taking a long time as the cause of increasing student that when we visited and eight as part of our big ten tour. here's a bit of what he had to say. >> if you dig a little bit deeper you see there are really two problems i think have an enormous impact. one of those is that we have too many students and are borrowing money to do it. they are not completing as fast as they can, and a large number of them are students not as well off financially and what they end up doing is creating a cycle of working too many hours taking fewer classes, not doing quite as well as their talent would allow, because they are working and then they go

forward and take more time to graduate. some of them give up. this is the group of people for which i believe we have too many people who do not complete, and then in years five and six, they are borrowing more money because that is what it takes to get that degree. i would say those things, the total cost for a degree, which is, i think, unfortunately reflective of a year five and six, and the notion that if you cannot quite afford it, you don't graduate at the same high rate or you take longer area classes you want to watch any of our segments from the big ten tour, you can check them out our website. about 15 minutes left in the segment with goldie blumenstyk. waiting in maryland on our line

for parents. good morning. caller: good morning. my first question is how do online classes cost if you take online classes before you enter the university, how would that impact cost? my second action is a with regard to outside scholarships i have a daughter who is probably an expert living in four different scholarships and grants offered outside of the university. it seems to go into a black hole. you never hear anything about it. you always hear cost about all of this money available out there. we have not been able to find it. if you could research or write an article with regard to all of these scholarships they say that are out there, give us some guidance on how to find it or is there a way to bring them in,

where you can go to certain websites and say yes, this is a real scholarship and little money here? that is it. guest: there is a lot of noise about the scholarships. at the end of the day, if you get a scholarship that does not go through your own school but you get it on your own it counts on your side of the ledger. it does not really reduce with the college expects you to pay. you are just bring that money to the picture, but it does not ultimately cut the cost that much, except it allows you, if you want a $1000 scholarship to someplace coming to bring that to the cost. but there are also a lot of, i think you see a lot of funny advertising out there and there are probably a lot of websites that promise scholarships and these are not necessarily scholarship funds where there are ways to kind of get your name and sell your name to college marketing firms. i would be wary about college

scholarships you do not know about from your own community organizations. in your community, there is a rotary, and maybe religious scholarships from churches. and there are scholarships schools themselves hear about. the ones on the web, you might want to be more wary about. you also talked a little bit about online courses. in theory, online courses should cost less than going to the campus. you would think they would. in most cases, colleges do not charge left for online courses and sometimes, they charge more because they say, they still have to pay the professor and provide the infrastructure for the course, and they have to provide the health and the help desk and all the other things. but certainly if you are a student who would leave home and pay for room and board, and you instead take these courses

online, that can save the room and board costs. host: folks on twitter still talking about big salaries for big-time college football coaches. on twitter, -- joe is up next in new york on our line for parents. good morning. caller: i just had a couple of questions and comments. when we talk about the sticker price, i think it is important to indicate the school gets the gross price. you do have the scholarships and the loans are also included. i have two kids in school, and they go to private institutions. they get financial aid, but the loans they incurred, the schools consider that part of the financial aid package. i guess the incentive for schools to have lower prices are

really not there. they are getting the gross price. really, the competition there if you can get the sticker price, where is your incentive to have a lower tuition for the students as well? it is also important, you have these types of commentary here is that a good idea would also be to have a business perspective. you're talking to a lot of administrators and the presidents of universities. i would also like to see if you could get a business perspective, a businessman or woman and what they consider the value of education, whether a four-year education is worth it or not. thank you. host: thank you for the suggestion. goldie blumenstyk. guest: the loan money is part of what the family is paying, and that is not what i'm county as part of the net rice. some colleges have been criticized because when they send financial aid letters out they make it look like the loan is part of the financial aid

package. they are not supposed to do that. governments have been pushing efforts to standardize and activist groups have also pushed this. so it is a lot clearer to families that this is student aid, this is the loan, and this is still your piece of the pie that you have to pay yourself. colleges that do not make that clear are not doing good service to families. >> is that part of the education department college rating plan? >> it is part of this thing called the scoresheet -- the shopping sheet, sorry. it is another effort to try to make a award letters follow a standard format. an earlier caller also mentioned the difficulty figuring out the net price. that caller is right. but every college is supposed to have on their website something called a net price calculator, where you can punch in your particular circumstances, your income, and also the tuition

and your amount of money that you were able to borrow, and come up with at least a guess of what the price might be for net prices. some of these calculators are better than others. they do not all have to have a good calculator. they are hard to compare one with another. it is not a perfect measure out there, but a small tool the government has required colleges to put on their websites now were students and families can at least get a little bit of a picture of what the net price will be. host: mark is up next, chicago illinois. you're on with goldie blumenstyk . guest: i was a nontraditional student. going back to school when i was laid off, in hopes of landing a better position. to be reemployed. what i discovered was is extremely expensive. then i discovered free online

courses. since i artie have a degree, i decided to give those a try and found those better than the online courses i was actually paying for. now what i will do is pursue certifications online. how is that going to affect in the future brick-and-mortar and colleges i tried to pursue online programs that are quite expensive and a lot cheaper? online schools and organizations? some of the schools are stanford and m.i.t.. taking courses like that. they're also nonaccredited. i am getting a great deal of great information and have learned a lot from them. i will take your answer off-line. >> i would actually love to know from mark, unless he's gone -- host: i think he did leave. guest: he is onto something

transformative in higher education right now. depending on how it goes, it could actually be the thing that poses a big threat to colleges. there is a movement out there alternative education, i will call it, through programs like massive online courses you can take them and in some cases, you can take these courses from an academy or the similar organization in bc -- in d.c. in sometimes, you can take them for credit, a certificate or a batch. this is like a whole new alternative credentialing system that is slowly being developed out in the world of alternative education. in some fields, it is more effective than in others. in the i.t. field, it is certainly a much more accepted area. probably in some of the regulated industries, it is a

little less accepted at this point. it is an area that is burgeoning and i think it poses a big threat to colleges in some cases because certainly if they can put them online and actually get them to look like a small degree program or put them together into a stackable credential, he has got something. host: just a few more calls today. we are talking with goldie blumenstyk. matthew is next in florida. a student. where do you go to school? caller: i graduated from the university of nevada in reno and now i go to the university of nevada medical school. my question is, either legislation or policy, what has been talked about -- for medical school, you have to do your four-year degree, but there are exceptions where they offer

consolidated programs to shave off a year. they lock you in to go to medical school. whereas in other countries you go into higher education knowing you will go into a certain career and a certain field. i did not know what appetite there is to adopt some of those models here. i look historically, and there will always be a four-year mentality. to adapt to that or save money or even expand ap credits or dual credits when high school students go to community colleges to go to credits at a time, is there any federal incentives talked about to open that up? >> there are none i know of, except i know there are medical schools that have a six year ba and medical degree. host: matthew, did you have a follow-up? caller: just for students going to college some colleges will

refuse those credits and students want different universities. students want to take advantage of those credits, it is limited in scope. it is interesting to see legislation that liberates that credit and says that credit must be excepted, to broaden the choices for students, to guarantee those credits they pay for high school are accepted. guest: in the medical context i'm not sure i know much about that. in the broader context, there is a lot of competition for students now. we have been hearing a lot of stories and they are all true but i think you also see a lot of efforts and colleges especially smaller private colleges that want to get more from students and recruit more students in the junior and senior year. we see the competition get more and more intense.

especially junior year. host: just in terms of general numbers? guest: >> yes. i think you are seeing a little bit more now in the colleges advertise. they are doing a lot more private learning assessments. a lot of places are becoming more accessible about the credit they want to set to get students in the door. host: robert on that line for all others. good morning. caller: i'm a recent college graduate and my comment is that it is not worth it. i have 40,000 in student loans and with my current salary, i was able to -- it is really hard

for recent graduates to find a job with these in salary and benefits. if i could do it all over again i feel like i probably would not have done it. i probably would have enlisted in the navy or went to learn a trade or something like that. >> i think particularly in the last five or six years, when the economy has been in a difficult time, the choices have been a lot harder to make. i will not sit here and tell someone what the right and wrong is to do, except that, at the end of the day, statistics will show you people who do not have any post secondary education are more likely to end up in poverty. with college degrees on average they're more likely to have jobs and not just jobs, but there are a lot of statistics that those

with college education vote more, volunteer more common are better members of communities. all circumstances of course are different. when you look at it from general terms, it is hard to argue. host: if you want to read more up of -- more of goldie blumenstyk, her book. senior writer with the chronicle of higher education. thank you for the time this morning. that is our show for today. we will see you backhost: if you want to read more up of -- more of goldie blumenstyk, her book. senior writer with the chronicle of higher education. thank you for the time this morning. that is our show for today. we will see you back here tomorrow morning. have a great monday. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] ♪

>> over the next few hours here on c-span, this year's american renewable energy summit. first, the author of more than 50 books, including the great transition, and then the conversation from climate change. after that, if freshwater crisis in the u.s. and around the world. later, a look at environmental impacts of large-scale farming. tonight, the funeral service for ben bradley, who died in october at age 93. one of this peters at the funeral