after that flick ellis and melanie hagan -- blake ellis and melanie hagan talk about that collectionctices. tomorrow at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. also tomorrow, federal reserve chair janet yellen will december the semiannual monetary policy report to congress. -- will deliver the semiannual monetary policy report to congress. next up here on c-span, a discussion on why the cost of federal student loan programs continues to grow from washington journal today. this is 40 minutes. now is the time. every monday, we have a segment called "your money." we looked at the effectiveness of federal programs. joining us to talk about federal loans is beth akers of the brookings institution. first of all, take a big book at federal loans. how many loans are out there now? what are the conditions of loans? guest: there's a lot. $1.3 trillion is the number we have probably all heard and read about in the newspaper. it is important to remember that these are investments made in education that will pay off over the course of the lifetime of the borrowers. we should not be to alarms abide the number a