Sara Goldrick-Rab: Paying the Price

One of the most sustained and vigorous public debates today is about the value—and, crucially, the price—of college. But an unspoken, outdated assumption underlies all sides of this debate: if a young person works hard enough, they’ll be able to get a college degree and be on the path to a good life.

That’s simply not true anymore, says Sara Goldrick-Rab, and with Paying the Price, she shows in damning detail exactly why.

Please join the Puget Sound College & Career Network for a vibrant keynote address and discussion with Sara Goldrick-Rab, a national scholar on college access and affordability, on the true meaning of increasing equitable access to postsecondary education. She will share findings from her research nationally, reflect on the unique challenges faced by students in Washington State and King County, and offer policy, practice recommendations, and possible solutions to make college access and attainment a reality for low-income students. Light refreshments will be provided.

Sara Goldrick-Rab is Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University, and Founder of the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, the nation’s only translational research laboratory seeking ways to make college more affordable. She is best known for her innovative research on food and housing insecurity in higher education, having led the two largest national studies on the subject, and for her work on making public higher education free. She is the recipient of the William T. Grant Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Award and the American Educational Research Association’s Early Career Award, and in 2016 POLITICO magazine named her one of the top 50 people shaping American politics. Her latest book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream, is an Amazon best-seller, and has been featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the New York Review of Books, CSPAN’s Book TV, and the New York Times Magazine, among other venues. The Chronicle of Higher Education calls her “a defender of impoverished students and a scholar of their struggles,” and she is ranked 10th in the nation among education scholars according to Education Week.