New Ways to Pay for College
BALDWIN: If you are packing up to head off to college, or your child is, you probably just got a bill for fall tuition fees. Did you faint? Last night in Missouri, President Obama said he is looking for a solution.</s>PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I asked my team to shake the trees all across the country for some of the best ideas out there for keeping college costs down.</s>BALDWIN: Well, a lot of parents are out there shaking the trees as well. CNN's Christine Romans has the bottom line on the rising cost of college.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Brooke, nothing in American life has risen so quickly as the price of college. Two-thirds of college graduates have loan debt in average of $26,000 each. Those huge, huge numbers not lost on the country's most famous student loan recipient.</s>OBAMA: We'll never have enough loan money. We'll never have enough grant money to keep up with costs that are going up five, six, seven percent a year. We've got to get more out of what we pay for.</s>ROMANS: Costs up, job prospects down. Thirty-six percent of recent grads are working in jobs that do not require a college degree. It can't go on. Americans can't just keep borrowing more money to pay for something that isn't returning more on the investment. Already, behavior is changing. Parents are shelling out less of their own money for a kid's college tuition. Students rely now on grants and scholarships for 30 percent of their college cost, but have to find or borrow money for the rest. So a stunning 67 percent of families are crossing off schools from their wish list because they cost too much. More students are living at home in college to save money. Even in families with earnings of a hundred grand and higher, even in high-income households, 48 percent live at home while in college. Five years in college to find yourself, Brooke, that was the bubble. Those days are over. A college degree still critical, the unemployment rates are super low in engineering, physical therapy, accounting, technology fields, all kinds of places. That's why finding ways to make college more affordable in the first place is so imperative. Brooke?</s>BALDWIN: Christine, thank you. Now some of the hottest stories in a flash, "Rapid Fire." Roll it. Closing arguments in the Bradley Manning trial under way today. You know the story, Manning accused of disclosing information to Wikileaks in the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history. The 25-year-old soldier was court-martialed more than three years ago. If convicted of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, he faces life in prison. And for the very first time in at least 20 years, Consumer Reports has named an American car as best new sedan. Drum roll. The honor goes to the newly redesigned Chevrolet Impala. That's a huge turnaround for the Impala, which for years has scored at the bottom in testing by Consumer Reports. And the tape you have to see yourself. Watch the trooper. Semi truck sideswipes this Wisconsin state trooper's car during a traffic stop nearly hitting the trooper. Trooper just pulled someone over for speeding, he was heading back to his cruiser. When you see it, again, the 18-wheeler comes screaming by, actually rips off part of the front end of the cruiser. The driver was cited for the crash. Now this, Lance Armstrong denied rumors that he was doping for years and years. He has since come clean, faces this huge lawsuit from his sponsor. But you know what he's saying now? He's saying he should not pay up. His reason? They should have known he wasn't playing by the rules. We're on the case next.