First Lady Michelle Obama and Miss Piggy join together to read "The Night Before Christmas" to children during the National Christmas Tree Lighting on December 3 in Washington, D.C. Thursday, she released a rap video to encourage high school students to attend college. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI |
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- First lady Michelle Obama dropped a rap video with SNL star Jay Pharoah on Thursday, encouraging the nation's youth to attend college but overlooking one glaring obstacle: paying for it.
The two-minute video was shot at the White House with Pharoah, known for his spot-on impersonation of President Barack Obama, urging two young people to go to college and asking "Help me out FLOTUS." It's part of her "Better Make Room" campaign to encourage teens ages 14 to 19 to consider higher education.
"South Side Chicago, we all know, we had to do overtime, every night, to make it tomorrow," Obama rapped. "And, everyone could really make their dream true. Hey, kid listenin' in Michigan, that could be you."
While it's a catchy and humorous way to engage high school students, it doesn't address how young adults should pay for higher education, which can cost upwards of $10,000 a year for tuition alone in public schools. A recent Goldman Sachs survey found low- and mid-tier college educations may not be worth the cost.
The financial institution found in 2010, the typical graduate had to work some eight years, until about age 30, to break even on their Bachelor's degree investment. Goldman projects that will only go up with 2015 graduates breaking even at age 31 and 2030 graduates breaking even at age 33.
At the same time, student debt has more than doubled from less than $600 billion in 2006 to more than $1.2 trillion today. About $103 billion is in default. The average borrower owes about $30,000.
Goldman said the upper-tier schools are likely a good investment for the return, but some graduates would do better to seek other kinds of training.
"Graduates studying lower paying majors such as arts, education and psychology face the highest risk of a negative return," Goldman said. "For them, college may not increasingly be worth it."
