“Sociologists Natasha Quadlin and Brian Powell take us on a well-reasoned, accessible, and engaging journey of how public opinion has changed over time regarding college access and paying for it. Their findings suggest a cultural shift in the American mindset about higher education inequality, and Who Should Pay? merits a strong read to learn what it is and why.”
—Prudence L. Carter, Sarah and Joseph Jr. Dowling Professor of Sociology, Brown University
“One of the most pressing issues of today is whether a public college education should be free for every eligible high school graduate, and if so, how will it be funded? This provocative book based on over a thousand adults contacted before and during the pandemic discusses how public views of access and funding of higher education have changed. Addressing problems of individual versus collective interests, this excellent volume raises questions regarding our commitment to future generations of youth, democratic values, and American productivity.”
—Barbara Schneider, John A. Hannah University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
“Who Should Pay? reminds us that public opinion about the value of a college education and about its beneficiaries has changed rapidly in the last decade. What appeared to be out of the question in one moment becomes possible in another. This book shows us why. If the public is changing in its attitudes toward whether students should have access to free, or at least affordable, tuition, how might our public policies respond? And for those who seem to oppose ‘free tuition,’ what are some of the surprising reasons why they do so and how malleable are their positions? For anyone following the debates on college affordability or the cancel student debt proposals, this book is a must read.”
—Frederick F. Wherry, Townsend Martin, Class of 1917 Professor of Sociology, Princeton University