captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: in nigeria, more tears of sorrow and more demands for action, from mothers of the abducted schoolgirls. as the country's president vows once again, to conquer the terrorists responsible. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. also ahead this thursday, growing calls, from the american legion and others, for the ouster of veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki. amid allegations the v.a. hid long wait times for care and vets died from lack of access to doctors. >> ifill: plus, the cost of raising kids in the u.s. from day care to nannies. our parenting series continues with a look at the strains on the family pocketbook.

>> close to half of our income goes to childcare. >> there was no way i was going to be able to ever afford daycare. >> ifill: those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs "newshour." >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a huge underground bomb in syria blasted a hotel into ruins today, killing up to 100 people. it happened in the key northern city of aleppo, where a syrian government militia had been using the hotel as its base. john sparks of independent television news has this report.

>> reporter: some say they're fighting a losing battle. today, however, rebel fighters in syria showed they are still a force to be reckoned with. in the heart of historic aleppo a prestigious hotel was destroyed in a massive explosion. the opposition group, islamic front, took credit for the blast and these pictures. the attack like so many other moments in this conflict has been well documented. in february, rebel combatants showed off a new construction, a 250-foot long tunnel leading to the carlton hotel. we're putting the last touches on it, he says, and we're 100% sure of the target.

here's what left of the carlton, they used 23 tons of explosive and local sources told this program that 100 soldiers were killed. the government hasn't commented on the casualty figures. the fight for aleppo has been called the mother of battles. it's syria's biggest city and both sides are determined to take it. the government targets rebel areas from the air with crude shrapnel filled bombs. while their opponents resist down below. in a video posted yesterday from aleppo one fighter promised revenge. there will be big surprises soon. >> ( translated ): we will liberate this city in days. >> reporter: still the front line in aleppo has barely shifted in two years. >> woodruff: in yemen, u.s. and other western embassies stepped up security today, amid fears of new strikes by al qaeda. yemeni forces increased patrols, and stationed armored vehicles

near the u.s. mission. it came as the yemeni army said it captured the militants' stronghold in the south. after an offensive that began ten days ago. amnesty international and the united nations are accusing both sides in south sudan of crimes against humanity. separate reports today said government troops and rebels are guilty of mass killings, sexual slavery and gang-rapes. meanwhile, there was word the rebel leader has arrived in ethiopia for talks with the south sudanese president. separatist leaders in ukraine pushed ahead today with plans for an independence vote. the referendum in the eastern regions of donetsk and luhansk is set for sunday, but russian president vladimir putin appealed yesterday for a delay. today, separatist councils rejected that call. the leader in donetsk said the time to vote is now. >> ( translated ): against the backdrop of today's events, military actions that are

happening in the towns of the region, against the backdrop of the genocide that happened in odessa, the mood for holding the referendum is only rising in the people and to not postpone for any reason. >> woodruff: also today, moscow said it added more u.s. and canadian officials to a list banned from visiting russia. it did not name any names. the newly ousted prime minister of thailand has suffered a new blow. an anti-graft commission found yingluck shinawatra guilty of negligence in a widely criticized rice subsidy program. just yesterday, shinawatra and nine other cabinet ministers were forced out of office when the philippines constitutional court ruled they abused their power. security forces in venezuela arrested 243 youth activists in a pre-dawn crackdown on protesters. soldiers staged raids on four tent camps in caracas in a demonstrations against president nicolas maduro.

the protesters are demanding his resignation. back in this country, wall street mostly struggled for direction today. the dow jones industrial average gained 32 points to close at 16,551; but the nasdaq fell 16 points to close at 4,051; and the s&p 500 lost two, to finish at 1,875. still to come on the newshour. nigeria's president vows the abducted schoolgirls will be found. then, the president's pick for health secretary faces a senate panel. as house republicans launch another probe into the benghazi attack. plus, the high price of childcare in the u.s. and allegations the va hid long wait times from vet's medical care.ñi >> ifill: secretary of state of john kerry promised today to do

everything possible to help rescue the abducted nigerian schoolgirls. as the student's families returned to the site of the kidnapping. rageh ommar of independent television news reports from nigeria. >> taken back to the scene where their family'sñi nightmare began, the school where the girls were taken. for many visiting this place was too much to bear. and yet despite all the international offers of help, their torements and the ordeal being suffered by their girls shows no sign of ending. in the capitol abuja this crisis has overshadowed an international economic conference being held here. heads of state and global business leaders marked a moment silence in honor of the kidnapped school girls.

all eyes were on nigeria's president, criticized so much for not doing more. he said nigeria was facing the same kind of war the west had had to deal with. >> especially this time we are facing attack of terrorists. and in nigeria at this time, we have already supported to us win the war against terror. (applause) former prime minister gordon brown called for action against boko haram weeks ago am he told me with so much lost time the world had to face up to some hard truths. >> we have to extend the search for these girls now beyond nigeria intoñi camaroon, into chad, end nes ya, i fear they have been dispersed across africa and we will never hear of them again. my measure to the families is we will dofering in our power, even though is late,

we will do everything in our power to trito locateñr these girls. >> reporter: time is critical as the kidnapping of the girls heads towards the fourth week. and the sense of urgency about taking action rises by the day. >> a small american team of military, law enforcement and hostage negotiators is arriving in nigeria today to help the girls. for more on that effort i'm joined by u.s. assistant secretary of stateñr for african affairs linda thomas greenfield, thank you forñi joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> give meñr your best assessment as of this evening of where the girls are. >> i wish quoi tell you where the girls are. i don't think we have an answerñi to that and i know the nigerians don't have an answer to that. they have been missing for more than 24 days. an i think the question that everyone has is where, where are the girls.xd >> ifill: there has been some speculation that they have been split newspaper different locations. >> we have heard that speculation, that some may

have been taken across the borderçó into neighboring countries or maybe in different locations inside of nigeria, in the forest and also in some small villagesment but again, this is all based on rumor and information that we've to the been able to confirm. >> everybody from your boss, secretary of state kerry this morning to the president of the united states has said the u.s. will do all it can do. what can the u.s. do? >> we will do all we can do. and the president has instructed us to do that. we are starting by sending a multidimensional team in that will include the military, civilians, individuals that can work with the nigerians on how to negotiate and how they canxd approach returning the girls without harming them. >> ifill: i know you are a diplomat rather than a military person. does this mean we're to the going have any kind of nil tear intervention. >> at this time there is no

plans that this is a military intervention. we are sending military advisors in toçó work beside the nigerians and provide advice and support to the nigerians in their efforts to retrieve these girls. >> ifill: what about satellite and drone imagery, that might help. >> the nigerians have asked. this is something that we are considering, not drones,ñi but there are commercial satellite imagery that could be available to assist in this effort and is something that is being considered. >> ifill: you just mentioned that the nigerians have asked for that help. there seems to be some delay in the u.s. offer of help in this situation and nigeria's willingness to accept it. what was that gap about? >> we have not delayed an offering of the nigerian assistance. we started working with the nigerian government on providing assistance several months ago. we are have had conversations with military

elements as well as the national security advisor. i was out in nigeria in december with general rodriguez and other team members from usaid. we had some very productive discussions with the nigerians on how we might be able to assist. some of that assistance has already been provided to the nigerians in terms of helping them coordinate their own intelligence information, giving them advice based on our own experience and having dealt with counterinsurgencies in iraq an afghanistan. >> ifill: so you are speaking specifically about a cooperation on the par of the u.s. and nigerian government to-- boko hamam. >> yes, boko haram has been a problem for some time so what progress has been made in that joint effort?ñ >> as you foe back in november the u.s. government made a decision to sanction boko haram and so they areçó

on our terrorist list. and that gives us the ability to look at what kind of financing they have. and also to look at money that they may have going in their direction. but this is a difficult task as they are basically a groupñi of bandits that are hiding among populations. and it's made it very difficult for the nigerians to capture them. >> ifill: i think it's fair to state u.s. and other nations knew all that about boko haram before november. so why did the designation not happen until then? >> i think we started working on it long before november. it's a long process to make a designation. and the efforts that went into getting that designation done was completed in november. >> ifill: you have to explain to people who don't know what are you talking about like me what is the long process. what takes so long? >> the actions are so obvious. >> yeah, we have to one

thing we have to make sure that we have it right. the people we who are making the decisions put on the list it has to go through a process with the department of treasury, with the department of justice. and all of the work that needed to go into that process was done and lead us to come to the decision to make the designation in november. >> ifill: we are now aware of al qaeda affiliate cells. -- described not only in nigeria but also in sudan and somalia. is there a coordinated regional effort to try to break that up? >> iñr think regionally we have had a number of discussions with the african union and with regional players across the continent to address the scourge of terrorism that is takingñi place in a number of locations, whether it's in somalia and kenya with el shabab, with the counterlra effort and also with boko

haram and aqim and al qaeda. i think that it has to be a multiregional effort and we're certainly working with our partners across africa to address this issue. >> ifill: do you feel that you're making progress. >> i think we're making slow progress but there's still a lot of work to be done. >> ifill: assistant secretary of state for african affairs, thank you so much for helping us out. >> and thank you very much for having me. >> woodruff: the woman who will likely be the new face of the affordable care act testified today on capitol hill. sylvia mathews burwell, the president's budget director, is mr. obama's nominee to replace kathleen sebelius as secretary of health and human services. rarely is anything on health care a bipartisan affair anymore in congress, but burwell was well received by members on both sides of the aisle.

>> ms. burwell, you have a reputation for competence. and i would respectfully suggest you're going to need it. >> reporter: that warning notwithstanding, republicans, like lamar alexander, mostly used the hearing to take aim not at burwell, but at the health care law. >> republicans would like to repair the damage that obamacare has done. we'd like to prevent future damage as responsibly and rapidly as we can. >> reporter: but burwell did not concede that point. instead, in her opening statement, she argued the effects of the law have been positive. >> the department's work to ensure accessible, affordable, quality healthcare through the implementation of the affordable care act is making a difference in the lives of our families and our communities while strengthening the economy. >> reporter: if confirmed, burwell would succeed kathleen sebelius, who announced her resignation last month. republicans roundly criticized her for the botched rollout of the federal online insurance exchange last fall. today, south carolina republican tim scott pressed burwell on

whether she'd be an independent voice. >> i'd ask you simply, as secretary of h.h.s., will you in fact be the health and human services secretary for the american people, or will you be as your predecessor has been, the ambassador of obamacare? >> i'm here to serve the american people. i'm part of the president's administration. i'm honored to be appointed. first and foremost i serve the american people. i believe the president and his policies are aligned with that and will work. but i am here to serve the american people. >> reporter: that line of questioning drew a strong rebuke from iowa democrat tom harkin, the chair of the committee. >> it is my opinion, based on the years of work with kathleen sebelius, secretary sebelius, that she performed her job admirably, and that she was a responsible and attentive secretary of health and human services and carried out the law as we wrote it. >> reporter: democrats also touted benefits of the law, and

connecticut's chris murphy zeroed in on republican governors who've balked at embracing key provisions, such as expanding medicaid. >> what are the ways in which we can work in a flexible manner with these states as they maybe wake up to the reality of how well the implementation is going after the initial botched rollout. what are the ways in which we can work with some of the states that haven't done things like connecticut to try to make this work in all 50 states rather than just in the handful that have set up their own exchanges? >> i think there are two things and it does come back to the point about flexibility, is one of the points. and i think what's important is to send a signal that folks are willing to have the conversations. as i said, it's important if there are fundamental principles, to articulate those in terms of the change you're trying to get, but be willing to have the conversations and hear the ideas. >> reporter: burwell's answers generally seemed to go down well. some republicans even spoke of her reputation for competence. before taking over at the office of management and budget, she held leadership positions with the walmart foundation and the gates foundation.

she also served in the clinton administration, at the national economic council. richard burr of north carolina cited that background, saying he plans to support the nomination. >> it's because she doesn't come with a single experience that would make her a good secretary. she comes portfolio of experience that would make her a tremendous asset at addressing some of the challenges that that agency specifically and uniquely has. >> reporter: burwell also got an outside boost, when america's health insurance plans and industry trade group issued a statement calling her uniquely qualified. she still faces a separate confirmation hearing before the senate finance committee. that hearing has not yet been scheduled. >> ifill: as rocky as the rollout of healthcare.gov has been, a new report says the federal exchange was a bargain compared to the state run marketpalces. which spent twice as much per enrollee. we have that story, on our rundown.

>> woodruff: now to the continued fallout and controversy over the attacks on the american consulate in benghazi, libya. two years ago, four americans, including an ambassador, were killed in benghazi, and republicans believe there are unanswered questions about what more could have been done and the white house's role in the aftermath. the house of representatives today moved to form a special committee to investigate led by south carolina congressman trey gowdy, a former prosecutor. house speaker john boehner today laid out the reasons he called for the new investigation. >> we're here to consider a resolution to create another partisan committee, to investigate what the speaker

and his five chairman have already been investigating. with all due respect, if the republicans want to fix the problems with their partisan investigation, they need more than just a new chairman. i have tremendous respect for mr. gowdy. and i'm glad that he said that the fund-raising should not be done on the deaths of these four people am and i hope that the republican conference will finally agree with that. we are better than that! >> last week a line was crossed in two places. first came to light that the white house -- >> formal congressional subpoena. >> our committee sought to

make sure that they wouldn't fight. to help the american people from finding the truth as well. >> with us now is >> woodruff: with us now to talk about the latest, robert costa of "the washington post." congressional reporter robert costa of the washington most and he joins us from capitol hill. robert casta welcome back to the newshour. it's been two years since ben gazy almost will be in september. the speaker earlier was against a new investigation. what has caused him to change his mind? >> there was a release of recent documents procured by judicial watch, a conservative group. and these documents included new e-mails about how the white house messaged the attacks right in the immediate aftermath. and the release of these e-mails really has angered house republicans here on capitol hill and has spurred them to correct the select committee. >> so after all-- we know there were four investigations under way. there have been a lot of documents released. so just in the release of

these e-mails that's what changed the speaker's mind. >> it's not only that i think that is the main factor and that is the factor speaker boehner has cited. but there also is a political almost. the conservative wing of the republican party, the gop base, they have been very frustrated about the administration's handling of the attacks for a long time. and ahead of the midterm elections republican leadership, they are paying attention to the base. and the desires of those back bench conservatives who are also eager to have a select committee. >> what is the white house, what is the administration saying in response to this what the republicans are saying smells like something fishy was happening? >>. >> democrats both at the white house and in congress are skeptical of this republican initiative. nancy pelosi and the democratic leader in the house has said the democrats may even boycott the selection. they will make that decision tomorrow when they meet privately at the capitol. at the white house, democrats there believe that they there have already been investigations in the in2e8 against committee, on the

oversight committee, in the foreign affairs committee and elsewhere and they think that's enough. >> why is only the house pursuing this investigation? why not the senate? >> well, simply, the house is dominated by republicans and the senate is not. and i think the house has always, especially with the oversight committee in the house, they have really been delving into this issue for a long time, it animates the republican party and they feel like now because there is a such a divide in congress, there's not much chance of bipartisan deals in fiscal matters, house republicans broadly speak of returning to oversight, looking into benghazi, looking into the internal revenue service and administration's handling of that. that is the focus for the gop. >> you were saying robert costa, not much chance of substantive legislation. dow mean that literally that there is not much that is going to be happening this year? >> that's right, we're really if a phase now where we move towards summer campaigning, the august recess. and the oversight. and there won't be much time even for the select committee to do much work before the election because of the august recess. so you are looking at a

republicans positioning themselves, looking at benghazi and trying to underscore before november and reminding voters this is at the top of their list in terms of issues. >> as you eluded the democrats have a tough decision to make about whether or not to participate in this special committee. they're divide, i gather. >> it is. there has been an interesting teleon capitol hill speaking with house democrats and they initially were very reluctant to participate in the select committee. but now because they know former secretary of state hillary clinton is likely to be called, they now want to perhaps be on the committee to act as dividers-- defenders for her. she is the party's leading con tenor for the 2016 presidential campaign. and if she is called they want to be in that room. >> robert costa i also want to ask you about something else we just heard congressman commings mention, that is the fact that some republicans are using the benghazi allegations to raise money for the party. where is that stand? i know that congressman

gowdy who is going to be the chairman of this committee said he thought it was inappropriate. but then speaker boehner today declined to say that it-- that it's wrong. do what is the thinking on that? >> this is a case study in how the select committee is complicated politically. trey gowdy a former federal prosecutor from south carolina who is chairing the subcommittee, speaker boehner are trying to present a sober look for the republicans in the house. a seriousness to this entire process. yet almost immediately the campaign arm of the gop started to fund raise off this entire initiative so. have sober on one hand and fund raise and political on the other. it will be hard balanced for republicans to make and speaker boehner today in a press conference did not address the fund raising from the nrcc related to benghazi and i that i say testament to his ability to sgrap grap well in tension. >> is this something the republicans believe they can raise money off? >> i think they have not

only can they, but they have for quite some time. i spent a lot of time on the campaign trail. and when i talk to republican based voters, tea party conservatives, benghazi more than jobs it seems, more than any other issue is at the top of their list of concerns. they really believe the obama administration is out of line in how it handled the response of these attacks and they want-- they're pressuring the leadership day if and day out, calls, et cetera, to go in and do it more. >> quickly more than health care? >> even more-- i think obama care ahead of 2014 is certainly at the top of that same list. but it's obama care and benghazi when i'm out on the trail. that is what i hear as a reporter. i think the republican leadership would echo that if you had a conversation with them. >> robert costa of "the washington post," we thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: the cost, and affordability, of good child care is the focus of the next installment in our series "parenting now." it's a major concern for

families throughout the country and, in different ways, it cuts across lines of class and income. the newshour's economics correspondent, paul solman, has the story. part of his reporting making sense of financial news. >> there she is. >> when baltimore teacher daniel gave birth to her daughter eva last year he had to quit her job. >> there was no way, i was going to be to be able to ever afford day care. >> tiffany worked at wal-mart in maryland where she had her second daughter. >> i made $12,000 for its whole year and day care was-- i want to say 1275 to 300 a week just for the newborn. >> that's more than she was earning. >> alexandria virginia moth of two lisa boyle and her husband can make the payments. still. >> depending on where you live in america these days,

full-time care can run to 24,000 a year. but its advocacy group child care aware. >> most regions of the country, child care is the most expensive part of a family's budget. >> in most places, infant care now costs more than state college tuition. it is a cost rising as much as eight times faster than family income in some places. >> and it presents a sort of generational catch-22. >> your kids need advantages like quality infant and day care to prosper and workplace. >> but with stagnant wages, you can't afford them. >> and yet he says, the research is unequivocal. >> we know that during the first couple of years of life the brain is growing at a very rapid rate and that's where we really should be putting it in. >> president obama called for universal preschool in this year's state of the union address.

>> one of the best investments we can make in a child's life, this high quality early education but but so far nothing's happened. and parents like danielle are still on their own. >> going to get you. >> her teacher salary wasn't enough to cover the cost of caring for her daughter. >> i was, after taxes bringing home about $500 a week. and with a mortgage and everything else it just wasn't going to work. >> spiro is the family's primary earner. her husband is a student. >> after she joined her mom's consulting firm, she hired a nanny she loves but even on her 70,000 salary, can only afford part-time t to bridge the gap -- >> she put her one year old in the cheapest home day care she could find, it proved a poor alternative. >> the tv was on most of the day. it just wasn't an ideal situation but i didn't really have very many choices. >> he pulled her out and now watches her daughter herself

when the nanny isn't there. >> i am waking up with her between 5:30 to 6:00 in the morning and with her all day and i put her to bed around 6:30 at night, clean the house. i get a little laundry in, and then start my work. >> sometimes he finishes at 1:00 in the morning are are or later tiffany cuts back from full-time work for to wait chroning, she was one of day care and it was really expensive and it was taken the majority of my paycheck and some of my husband's paycheck. i didn't want to be a stay at home mom, i was forced to basically take the position. >> and forced to take it out of day care which per order believes was benefitting the bannee, namely with soft skills. >> socialized interacting with other kids. >> in fact, day care costs are driving more mothers to opt out all together.

almost one-third now stay at home. its most in more than two decades. >> twinkle, twinkle little star. >> crystal children's center costs over $20,000 a year for full-time infant care. high but typical in the wealthy dc suburbs, for high quality care however there is little margin between costs an revenue says director lieu "ellen". >> they've got to have three teachers in there and you have only nine children. >> so if you were paying tuition for nine children to pay three teachers plus the overhead, lights, heat, rent, it's very, very small. >> the pay averages barely $16 an hour. but if the center paid more. >> i would have to increase my tuition. >> lisa boyle the center's assistant director understands the better than most. she uses almost all her

stall ree to pay to pay for her children to come here, even though she gets a discount for her three-year-old son. in the end -- >> i work to earn about $100 every week. >> she can swing it because her husband works too, plus she's con vinlsed it's an important investment. >> when are you looking at alternatives that were cheaper, it was always, you know, poorer quality so it was a choice that we made to invest in our children's education, at 0 to 3, it was another one of those decisions where we went back and forth and you know, but eventually the baby wins. >> single moms like paula wilson don't have such choices. >> we simply can't afford a place like crystal city. >> everything is on me. i don't have someone 20 share the bills with, do i have to make sure i plan

everything out to a t. >> wilson a hotel made sends her three-year-old daniel to a family run day care she likes, and can just afford. but it's 20 minutes away. and she can't afford a car. >> every day i have to figure out how danny is going to get to day care. i know they have closed the day cares in the area but they're way too expensive. >> so wilson asks friends and family to help with transportation. there are child care subsidies available but she doesn't qualify. you must be able to afford it but they don't look at the fact that sometimes the hotel is slow and you never know when it's going to be slow. >> meanwhile tiffany recently lost her job at wal-mart. >> before we were struggling, now we have to struggle even more to make ends meet. we need the income so we can make sure we have rent or make sure we have food at home for the children.

>> for such families infant and child care are luxury the. but says lynn et froga. >> also an economic and educational imperative, families have to work and when they have to work they need quality to put their children in to be cared and nurtured and developed for later school success. >> unfortunately, these are quality settings that a great many americans just can't afford. >> even parents who work full-time often can't afford backup child care. read the story of a single mom who feels caught between needing to care for her kids when they're not at school and climbing the ladder at work. that's on making sense >> woodruff: now to a different look at the cost of kids. the ever rising price tags for college. how do you assess the value of one's degree and of higher

education overall as a graduate moves forward? many studies have looked at job placement and income as a key metric. but a new study measures it differently focusing on whether a graduate has a good life in terms of well-being, satisfaction and engagement in a career. the report comes from a survey of more than 30,000 graduates in all 50 states. it was done by gallup in partnership with purdue university and the lumina foundation. earlier this week, i spoke with the president of purdue and the former governor of indiana mitch daniels. for the record, the lumina foundation is a funder of the newshour. >> so why did you want to undertake this kind of a study. >> started as one university feeling we should be accountable. we wanted to know if some rigor and authority were doing.

first to report that po to sense future students, maybe we could learn thing, i found the folks in gallop with 20 or 30 years of research in this area were very interested in something broader. and that lead us to today. >> so we didn't want to live both interesting findings here, is that when you look at what's happened to graduate, and there is the survey across the country. it didn't matter so much whether they went to a private college or a public college. or even how selective the school was in determining what kind of life they had afterwards. tell us about that. >> probably one of the most surprising, a lot of surprise in here. maybe nothing sur-- surpasses that, no statistically significant difference as you just said between public and private, so-called elite and larger schools like ours turns out that what matters overwhelmingly is not where

you went to school but how you went and how the school approached the process of your education. >> and what did you mean by that, how did you measure how encarnacion gauged the focus -- >> gallop has decades and tens of millions of interviews and they-- by now have a very good method for determining well-being and maintenance. really important to know that we were-- yes, we were were interested in how the graduates were doing, materially, were they employees or earning a gooldz living and all that. and social and in a sense of engagement with working community. and that's really what we said college should produce, people who thrive at all those areas. and it turns out that what really really matters is that one professor serves-- did you have a work experience,

some sort of experienceal working that go, that went along with the questioned learning, these were the kind of lessons that we hope ask make our school. >> thinking will the wrong things, when they pick a school or think about the school. >> that through is an implication especially when the spread of costs across these schools by we now know are not producing better outcomes, is so gigantic. and you know we're a land grant school. we were put there along with our sister school to throw open the gates of higher education beyond the elites of this country and we've got to be serious about t but now we no that we can do that affordably for students they can have just as good an education on the other end. >> do you think the results of a survey like this will make other schools feel more comfortable about not having to keep raising costs and

keep paying ever more for new buildings, faculty and so on. >> i think that the school should have gotten the memo about that already. you're hearing it in perfectly legitimate criticism. in public discourse, this year the highest percentage, or record percentage of freshman passed over their first choice school for a second or third choice, almost always on the basis of cost. and so i think that many of the excesses that you just mentioned really have run their course. >> so what's the main message that you would wants to take away from this? >> no people and their parents who are thinking about the next several years. >> the go to school prepared to draw on the lessons here, to search out experienceal opportunities as well astra decisional classroom, to go to a school with some reputation for the engagement of faculty closely and the teaching,

and pay close attention to cost because very likely you're not buying greater quality for the higher sticker price you're being charged. >> one of the things you mentioned, the survey also found that those graduates who carry a lot of student debt when they leave that can very much affect what they do. >> right. i think we've all sensed that student debt is a big, big problem. the survey tells does is an even bigger problem than we thought. that linear fashion, the more debt a student leaves with, even if it's not that much by today's standards, it brings down their so-called well-being across all these dimensions, financial, social, health status and so forth. and another very troublesome finding, the more debt you have, the less likely you are to ever start a business. so that's bad news at the i have level and bad societally and economically. >> miss daniels president of

purdue university thinking about the way people ought to think about the school they choose to. thank you very much. >> thank you much. >> ifill: veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki is pushing back against calls for him to resign. this comes after allegations that dozens of patients have died because of delayed treatment at an agency hospital. jeffrey brown reports. >> all those in favor of the motion to issue the subpoena will say aye. aye. all those opposed? >> reporter: the house veterans' affairs committee voted overwhelmingly this morning to subpoena communications between veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki and his colleagues. the focus, allegations that employees at v.a. facilities in phoenix, arizona, and fort collins, colorado falsified records on delays in treating patients. a retired doctor in phoenix who had worked at the hospital came

forward with allegations that up to 40 v.a. patients died while awaiting care. on monday, the head of nation's largest veterans group, the american legion, called for shinseki's resignation. >> there needs to be a change and that change needs to occur at the top. >> the administration needs to take steps now. this is long overdue. they should have taken steps months ago. >> reporter: three republican senators, including john cornyn of texas, quickly joined that call. >> the president needs to find a new leader to lead this organization out of the wilderness and back to providing the service that our veterans deserve. >> reporter: but house speaker john boehner said today the real priority is making it easier for shinseki to fire people. >> i'm not ready to join the chorus of people calling for him to step down. the problems at the v.a. are systemic. and i don't believe that just changing someone at the top is going to actually get to the solutions that many of us are looking for.

>> reporter: democrats have generally defended the secretary, while demanding improvements in care for the nine million people in the v.a. medical system. for his part, shinseki insists he won't step down. he told "the wall street journal" yesterday: >> i serve at the pleasure of the president. i signed on to make some changes, i have work to do. the v.a. inspector general is now investigating the allegations of falsifying records. and white house spokesman jay carney says president obama is standing by the secretary. >> the president remains confident in secretary shinseki's ability to lead the department and to take appropriate action based on the i.g.'s findings. pending those findings, shinseki has now ordered a nation-wide review of access to care at all v.a. clinics. we invited veteran affairs secretary shinseki to appear on tonight's program. he declined. to tell us more about what happened in phoenix and the wider implications. we turn to associated press reporter brian skoloff. and phillip carter, he's a senior fellow with the center for a new american security.

he served nine years as an army military police and civil affairs officer. brian skoloff, tell us more about the specific allegations here the v.a. was falfisying records of appointments with patients? >> yeah, those are the allegations. we have a doctor retired long time physician with the va after about 20 years of service, retired in december. and then came public with these allegations that administrations at the va hospital instructed staff to keep this secret waiting list, high wait times, sometimes patients were waiting 6 to 9 months to get in there. but the wait list was showing that they were getting appointments within two weeks. he it also claimed because of this wait list, up to 40 patients may have died while awaiting this care. >> well, explain that. because it's not necessarily the 40 people who died because they weren't seen but they died during that waiting time. >> exactly.

and we also have to make perfectly clear here that these are all still allegations that as you noted the inspector general office has investigators here in phoenix pouring over staff, trying to get to the truth. we have this doctor and two other former va employees making these claims and are you correct. the claims are that up to 40 patients may have died while aity whatting care. but you know, first of all, va administration here in phoenix deny any of these allegations. but they also point out that if there were deaths while patients were waiting doctors appointments they very well may could have happened from a heart attack, car den, things unrelated to the car they were seeking. so again the inspector generals down here will have to wait and see what the probe fills up. >> phil carter there is a larger context. the va has been under pressure and criticized for systemic problems. and not keeping up with demand of the wars we've been fighting. >> that's right. these allegations strike a chord because even watching for patient satisfaction with the va's massive

hospital system, there are also repeated allegations like this in fact the government accountability office substantiated many of these a couple of years ago with a series of reports on how unreliable the va's wait time systems were. and that's been a known problem within the va that even though they have known about t they have not fixed it. >> in fact, presumably there is is that thing that may have caused the pressure in phoenix and other places to falsify the documents, i assume. >> that's part of it. and part of it is also the potential linkage between performance incentives and wait times. that is if the reported wait times or the targets for the wait times are part of the employment contracts for certain va officials, they are also very visible metrics of success for va medical centres and there is an allegation at least that the va personnel may have tweekd the stats in order to look better on those measures. >> so we have allegations in phoenix, fort collins, is it

look like we're going to be hearing about this other places as well, these practise? >> there are also reports coming out of austin and san antonio. you have to remember the va is a massive health-care system, 151 hospitals. 800 plus clinics. and so if these conditions existed at the phoenix center which i should say is also home to the second largest veteran's community in the country, they may exist in other large facilities or small facilities too. it is as speaker boehner said most likely a systemic issue. >> brian skoloff, you said that there in phoenix the va people at the hospital have denied these allegations. tell us a little bit more about the reaction so far. >> yeah, i mean, a good point was raised there. these allegations are very, very serious. and they, the former va employee who came out with them first claims exactly what your guest just said. that the reason the administrators were having these wait times fabricated

was so that they could pad their pockets with bounce us checks. the director hellman is a director at the va health-care system here in phoenix. prior to her being placed on administrative leech last week, told me that she plat flat out denies this. she makes roughly 169, 170,000 a year, her bonus hast year was about dt 9300. she scoff its at the notion that she would sit back an watch veterans die to make an extra $9,000 in bonus money. again, though, these are all allegations but if proven true they are serious allegations. but the chief of staff and hospital administrator vehemently deny that any secret waiting list was creted that they ever told staff to create the secret waiting list and the staff is really just confused with a change over from paperwork, actual paperwork to an electronic waiting list. again, you know, at this point it is a "he said, she said" until investigators get to the truth. >> phil carter at the national level, though, there is a lot of pressure now on general shinseki.

>> a lot of pressure, a lot of folks are analogy gizing this to the walter reed scandal from 6 years ago where there were reports of terrible living continue conditions at the medical centre which is not a va facility and those lead to the downfall of the army's medical leadership as a result. but folks are trying to figure out here in washington where do you fix responsibility within the chain of could panned is it at the secretarial level s it below that at the regional level, the hospital level, or down below. and i think that there's a consensus building, at least since speaker boehner's comments illustrate that to wait for the investigation before we fix accountability for these issues. >> so secretary shinseki announced this face-to-face audit. >> right. >> yesterday, all facilities across the country. do we know what that will entail do. we know how long it will take? >> no, we don't know the details of that am we do foe that it was announced earlier in april, and that was part of the offer to

understand how much of an issue this is throughout the v's-- va massive health-care system. secretary shinseki trying to get ahead of the situation while fighting the perception this he is to the doing enough. >> do you know how that will work in phoenix? >> it could be weeks down here trying to get to the truth of things. a good point was raised there. there is no secret that the va is overwhelmed with veterans seeking care. either from previous wars or recent wars. there are a lot of veterans seeking care and they are really forming these hospital os. the va has already acknowledged that 23 patients in recent years have died due to delayed care so there is no-- there is no secret that there is an issue with delaysed care. the allegations made here in phoenix are serious that there is a cover-up in order for these administrators to make money and get bon us chicks. so i guess we'll wait and see. but again, as your guest noted it's no secret that the va has issues it needs to deal with.

>> brian, phil, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. nigeria's president pledged to find more than 270 school girls kidnapped by islamist militants. rebels in syria set off a huge bomb in aleppo that leveled a hotel used by a government militia. reports said up to 100 people were killed. and the u.s. house voted to set up a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack on american diplomats in benghazi, libya. republicans pushed the idea. it was unclear if democrats would take part. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now how furry co- therapists are helping some soldiers. service dogs are being used to keep patients from missing their mental health appointments at some military installations and the idea is gaining support. you can read our report, on the

rundown. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on friday, russia's president putin heads to crimea. and a look at whether american kids are overprotected. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you on-line. and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks among others. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives.

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