“The democratic community cannot tolerate a society based upon education for the well-to-do alone. If college opportunities are restricted to those in the higher income brackets, the way is open to the creation and perpetuation of a class society which has no place in the American way of life.” – The Truman Commission (1)
The reason I’m studying the rising cost of college costs is because, at the core, I want a classless society. By understanding and pursuing how to democratize higher education I hope to further this cause. But let’s start with something a bit lighter. 🙂
My favorite part of Chapter 1 was reading the introductions of Chloe, Ian, Tyler, Nima, Norbert, and Sophie (CINNTS). Their stories will likely be the most significant point of engagement for me while reading. Especially since I’m the same age and understand the value of need-based financial aid firsthand. I’m already a bit anxious about CINNTS stories because I want each of them to succeed, but knowing the book’s topics, I anticipate this will not be the case.
Since the stories of CINNTS are already rather compelling to me, I was thinking about ways to make their journeys more accessible to others. My initial thought would be to build a small choose-your-own-adventure Twine game where people would follow each of CINNTS stories and make choices that would impact their lives. To me, this could be a valuable resource in situations where time and the other topics from Paying the Price are inaccessible to the readers. For example, if you wanted to engage students in the rising cost of college through the stories from Paying the Price without diving into the specifics of Pell Grants. I haven’t committed to producing such a resource because it may be too large an undertaking for me to take on at the moment.
Some of the hard-hitting information from chapter 1 was a bit jarring to me. The current purchasing power of the Pell Grant, in particular, only covers about 35% of the price for a public 4-year college (2). I understand that is a significant amount of money, but it is clearly not enough to fund a student’s collegiate career. Being a product of state and university based aid, I’m dishearten by how many financial aid programs must be received in triplicate to actually cover the cost of college. In other words, only the students who acquire several types of financial aid can cover the full cost of college instead of being able to rely on the Pell Grant alone.
Thinking about higher education as a point of socioeconomic mobility has been engrained in me for as long as I can remember. To me, a college degree yields access to more stable jobs and higher wages to reduce inequality but as Sara points out climbing the social ladder does not occur at an equivalent rate:
There is no guarantee, in other words, that college-educated people from low-income families will not be left behind. – Sara Goldrick-Rab (2)
Alternatively:
People who grow up in economically fragile circumstances often continue to live in economically fragile communities, even after they attend college. – Sara Goldrick-Rab (3)
This challenges what I “known” and expands how I need to be thinking about the benefits of college degrees, the price of college, and how to bear real, lasting change in the world. Since this is only the first chapter of Paying the Price, I’m rather excited to continue reading, reflecting, and writing these next several weeks!
The featured image is provided CC0 by Alex Read via Unsplash.
- President’s Commission on Higher Education, Higher Education for American Democracy, 2:23 (as cited in Paying the Price).
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, Figure 6.
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, p. 20.
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, p. 20.