The Point

Young people are living in a cultutre of competion and detatchment like never before, and access to a college education can seem out of reach for low income and first generation students. On The Point, our panel of mental health experts talk about the challenges, and how to have more control over the experience of the college admission process. Psychiatrists Dr. Marc Whaley and Dr. Jonathan Schwartz are in the studio, with our host Mindy Todd.

Boston Globe Reporter Mitchell Zuckoff wrote about the September 11 th terrorist attacks in 2001. His latest book Fall and Rise, The Story of 9/11 is a culmination of years of research and countless interviews with victims and their families.

WCAI News Director Steve Junker hosts a roundup of some of the top local and regional news of the week, including: Barnstable has a plan for sewering, to happen over 30 years with a price tag of one billion dollars; Cape schools are feeling optimistic about an increase in state aid; and remembering the man known as the architect of Cape Cod Healthcare.

For generations a college education was the single best way to move up socio-economically. But the system seems to be breaking down: college costs have skyrocketed and the enrollment process is skewed to favor students from well off families. We talk with author Paul Tough about his new book, The Years That Matter Most: How College Makes Or Breaks Us , examining how higher education is being pushed out of reach for those in middle and low income families.

The Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the largest conservation areas on the Cape, second only to the Cape Cod National Seashore. It encompasses acreage in both Falmouth and Mashpee and is managed by a collaboration of local, state and federal entities. The history of how the refuge was formed is intertwined with the history of the Mashpee Wampanoag, the start of the conservation movement on the Cape, and an unprecedented collaboration of stakeholders to preserve natural resources.

On The Point, we dive into the State of Cape Waters report with Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod . The report takes a look at water quality in some of the Cape’s fresh water ponds and salt water embayments: many suffer the negative effects of pollution from septic systems, stormwater, and fertilizers.

The Fall migration is in full swing, and for birds the key to survival is to conserve energy. They wait for nights with a light North wind to help them along their way. Many species have already left our region on their long and impressive journeys across the world. On The Point, our host Mindy Todd sits down with Mark Faherty, wildlife biologist at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary , to discuss the season's highlights, along with listeners around the Cape, coast and islands.

WCAI News Director Steve Junker hosts a roundup of some of the top local and regional news of the week, including: a new study finds nearly half of private wells sampled on the Cape test positive for PFAS contamination; the State’s Supreme Judical Court comes to Barnstable; and Edgartown and Vineyard Wind settle an undersea cable dispute.

People experience homelessness for a variety of reasons. On The Point, we discuss the most recent data on who is homeless in our region, some of the challenges to finding and staying in housing, and how the community is stepping up to help. We also talk with the former Homeless Policy Czar under President Obama about what’s happening on the federal level to address homelessness.

Why are some hospital and health service bills so expensive, and what can we do about it? According to a study out of Johns Hopkins University, Americans on average continue to spend much more for health care, while getting less care, than people in other developed countries. Americans pay higher drug prices, higher hospital administration costs, higher salaries for doctors and nurses and higher prices for many medical services. Why? A new book sets out to answer that question: it’s titled The