What is driving the cost of college tuition? What are the social, economic, and global implications of increasing college debt for American students?
Edward St. John, a professor of higher education at the University of Michigan School of Education, will address these and similar questions at an April 19 forum at UNL, "College Tuition and Student Debt: Historical, Policy, and Global Perspectives." The free public event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Nebraska Union (room posted).
St. John will provide a historical review of public education financing in the United States, modern case studies, and look at recent policy initiatives that implicate higher education costs and access. The forum will provide audience members with an overview of this issue prior to the November elections.
The Algo D. Henderson Collegiate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Michigan, St. John serves as series co-editor for "Readings on Equal Education," an annual volume focusing on initiatives seeking to reduce inequalities in K-12 and higher education. He directs research for a consortium of universities working with Detroit Public Schools, funded by the Ford Foundation, at the University of Michigan's National Center for Institutional Diversity. St. John is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association and recipient of awards from other associations for his scholarship.
His previous books with Johns Hopkins University Press, "Refinancing the College Dream" (2003), and "Public Funding of Higher Education" (2004), are used in many graduate courses on the financing of higher education.
St. John's appearance is co-sponsored by the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, the UNL College of Education and Human Sciences, the UNL College of Arts and Sciences through the Thomas C. Sorensen Endowment, the UNL Center for Civic Engagement and the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. For more information visit http://ppc.nebraska.edu/.
— Tarik Abdel-Monem, Public Policy Center