016 - Thematic Session. Hard Times in College: Conflicting Visions of Affordable Postsecondary Education

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

To induce students from low-income families to choose college, government, philanthropy, and educational institutions work together to frame college enrollment as an “affordable” decision for all qualified students. How do families and students respond and how do they define affordability? Addressing this key question is essential to unpacking the reasons why higher education today perpetuates at least as much inequality as it ameliorates. This panel will address this full set of issues, confronting the classic tensions between equity, excellence, and efficiency while also attending to conflicts arising from racial/ethnic, social class, and other cultural conceptions of both affordability and postsecondary education.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Sara Goldrick-Rab, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Presider

• Regina Deil-Amen, University of Arizona

Panelists

• Rachel E. Dwyer, The Ohio State University

• Sara Goldrick-Rab, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Laura Theresa Hamilton, University of California-Merced

Discussants

• Viviana A. Zelizer, Princeton University

• Regina Deil-Amen, University of Arizona