Why Bill and Melinda Gates put 20,000 students through college

Scott Pelley reports on what Bill and Melinda Gates have learned from their 20-year program that sent 20,000 disadvantaged students to college; Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT

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"60 Minutes," the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10. "60 Minutes" has won more Emmy Awards than any other primetime broadcast, including a special Lifetime Achievement Emmy. It has also won every major broadcast journalism award over its tenure, including 20 Peabody and 18 DuPont Columbia University awards for excellence in television broadcasting. Other distinguished awards won multiple times include the George Polk, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow, Investigative Reporters and Editors, RFK Journalism, Sigma Delta Chi and Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Reporting. "60 Minutes" premiered on CBS Sept. 24, 1968. Jeff Fager is the program's executive producer. The correspondents and contributors of "60 Minutes" are Bill Whitaker, Steve Kroft, Lara Logan, Scott Pelley, Lesley Stahl, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim, Norah O'Donnell and Oprah Winfrey. "60 Minutes" airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local listings.

[Solutioneur]

The whole story is based on a false premise - "you need a Degree." Young people need an education, not a degree. Colleges are on the verge of failing economically because they have become incredibly over-priced. So, where do they go next? Billionaires (Gates dropped out of college) and public funding (taxpayers). The reality is 65% of employed workers in America do not need a degree, the do the same tasks on a daily basis. They follow the instructions or get dismissed - they're not being paid to think, just do. Couple that fact with the current inability for recent graduates to find a job sufficient to pay their tuition and you have a crash coming. In my industry, construction, we train young employees in a trade for 3-6 months (with pay) and they earn more than many college grads. A high school graduate that wants to learn, electrical, plumbing, carpentry etc., can earn $50-$75, 000 a year AND they have no loans. Aside from the value of these skilled trades, the reality is that more and more jobs will become repetitive tasks. Therefore, the biggest opportunity for higher-paying jobs will be in "design." Designers will design not only products and facilities, but also processes. The designer class will be about 10% of the workforce, the production class with be 80% of the workforce, and the last 10% will be skilled craftsmen and artists. It's true, 80% will be human robots (with iTunes). So, stop the false promise of a college degree, they're not necessary for the majority of workers.

[PresidentialWinner]

Bill and Melinda are the two most generous persons on earth. It's a good thing they got so much money.

[wendyalexander]

Their program changed lives for the better.

[Mouseears]

Most giving couple are Bill and Melinda Gates giving 20, 000 kids a chance to go to College who are in poverty.

[EternalDestiny]

Just to show some people are bitter no matter what.. Who the heck is thumbing down this wonderful video?

[st.jude]

Awesome, Bill and Melinda Gates, may God give it all back to you in tenfold.

[crystalharrell]

I am one of those 20, 000 that this foundation put through college and it changed my life! No higher education isn't for everyone but for people like me who grew up in poverty and knew that education was my passion and ticket to a greater future, what GMS did for me was invaluable. I was even able to write a book highlighting my educational journey from public housing apartments in rural Alabama to being an Ivy League doctoral student. This story impacted over 400 lives, so what GMS did keeps giving. You never know what some people went through and this was their ticket out. GMS Cohort 2013