A Case for Free Public College

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Enabling Access: Ethics and Higher Education (Table 5)

Abstract

This paper offers a normative exploration of a modern policy debate: how should we fund higher education? Applying Satz’s work in moral economics, I argue that the American postsecondary funding model qualifies as a noxious market, undermining the co-participatory relationship between democratic citizens. I further contend that free public college for all best resolves this underlying injustice and, through this, better achieves the economic and personal benefits college is expected to promote.

Author

• Megan Bogia, Harvard University