Americans now obtain college degrees at a higher rate than at any time in recent decades in the hopes of improving their career prospects. At the same time, the rising costs of an undergraduate education have increased dramatically, forcing students and families to take out often unmanageable levels of student debt. The cumulative amount of student debt reached nearly $1.5 trillion in 2017, and calls for student loan forgiveness have gained momentum. Yet public policy to address college affordability has been mixed. While some policymakers support more public funding to broaden educational access, others oppose this expansion. Noting that public opinion often shapes public policy, sociologists Natasha Quadlin and Brian Powell examine public opinion on who should shoulder the increasing costs of higher education and why. Who Should Pay? draws on a decade’s worth of public opinion surveys analyzing public attitudes about whether parents, students, or the government should be primarily responsible for funding higher education. Quadlin and Powell find that between 2010 and 2019, public opinion has shifted dramatically in favor of more government funding. In 2010, Americans overwhelming believed that parents and students were responsible for the costs of higher education. Less than a decade later, the percentage of Americans who believed that federal or state/local government should be the primary financial contributor has more than doubled. The authors contend that the rapidity of this change may be due to the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the growing awareness of the social and economic costs of high levels of student debt. Quadlin and Powell also find increased public endorsement of shared responsibility between individuals and the government in paying for higher education. The authors additionally examine attitudes on the accessibility of college for all, whether higher education at public universities should be free, and whether college is worth the costs. Quadlin and Powell also explore why Americans hold these beliefs. They identify individualistic and collectivist world views that shape public perspectives on the questions of funding, accessibility, and worthiness of college. Those with more individualistic orientations believed parents and students should pay for college, and that if students want to attend college, then they should work hard and find ways to achieve their goals. Those with collectivist orientations believed in a model of shared responsibility – one in which the government takes a greater level of responsibility for funding education while acknowledging the social and economic barriers to obtaining a college degree for many students. The authors find that these belief systems differ among socio-demographic groups and that bias – sometimes unconscious and sometimes deliberate – regarding race and class affects responses from both individualistic and collectivist-oriented participants. Public opinion is typically very slow to change. Yet Who Should Pay? provides an illuminating account of just how quickly public opinion has shifted regarding the responsibility of paying for a college education and its implications for future generations of students.

This book explores how the notion of the responsible university manifests itself at various levels within Nordic higher education. As the impetus of the knowledge society has catapulted the higher education sector to the forefront of policy agendas, universities and other types of higher education institutions face increasing scrutiny, assessment and accountability. This book examines this phenomenon using the Nordic countries as cases in point, given the strong public commitment towards widening participation and public research investments. The editors and contributors analyse the history and current transformations of the idea of the responsible university, investigate new innovations in the educational landscape and look into how universities have begun to organise themselves to become more responsible. Drawing together scholars from the humanities and the social sciences, this interdisciplinary collection will be of interest and value to students and scholars of the role and nature of the modern university, in addition to practitioners and policy makers tasked with finding solutions to address the competing and often contradictory demands posed by a responsibility agenda. .

The public responsibility for higher education and research is a cornerstone of the European university heritage. Yet, our societies are changing rapidly, and clinging to old solutions will not further the very values that these solutions were originally designed to protect. The claim on public attention and public funds is growing, but public funds are not, or at least not at the same rate. While public funding of higher education and research is still important, the concept of public responsibility must be understood much more widely. It must also be nuanced by looking more closely at different degrees and levels of public responsibility as well as at the instruments available for exercising such responsibility. The book, which builds on a Council of Europe conference, aims to explore what public responsibility means in the complex societies that have just crossed the threshold to the 21st century by examining both overall higher education policies and specific aspects of it such as higher education for a democratic culture, access to research results, financing, equal opportunities, the approach to regulation and new trends in higher education.

"Is the university contributing to our global crises or does it offer stories of hope? Much recent debate about higher education has focused upon rankings, quality, financing and student mobility. The COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, the calls for decolonisation, the persistence of gender violence, the rise of authoritarian nationalism, and the challenge of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have taken on new urgency and given rise to larger questions about the social relevance of higher education. In this new era of uncertainty, and perhaps opportunity, higher education institutions can play a vital role in a great transition or civilisational shift to a newly imagined world. Socially Responsible Higher Education: International Perspectives on Knowledge Democracy shares the experiences of a broadly representative and globally dispersed set of writers on higher education and social responsibility, broadening perspectives on the democratisation of knowledge. The editors have deliberately sought examples and viewpoints from parts of the world that are seldom heard in the international literature. Importantly, they have intentionally chosen to achieve a gender and diversity balance among the contributors. The stories in this book call us to take back the right to imagine, and 'reclaim' the public purposes of higher education"--

More than a century ago, John Dewey challenged the education community to look to civic involvement for the betterment of both community and campus. Today, the challenge remains. In his landmark book, editor Thomas Ehrlich has collected essays from national leaders who have focused on civic responsibility and higher education. Imparting both philosophy and working examples, Ehrlich provides the inspiration for innovative new programs in this essential area of learning.

Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility focuses on research and theoretical developments related to the role of geography in education, human development, and health. William F. Tate IV, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and former President of the American Educational Research Association, presents a collection of chapters from across disciplines to further understand the strengths of and problems in our communities. Today, many research literatures--e.g., health, housing, transportation, and education--focus on civic progress, yet rarely are there efforts to interrelate these literatures to better understand urgent problems and promising possibilities in education, wherein social context is central. In this volume, social context--in particular, the unequal opportunities that result from geography--is integral to the arguments, analyses, and case studies presented. Written by more than 40 educational scholars from top universities across the nation, the research presented in this volume provides historical, moral, and scientifically based arguments with the potential to inform understandings of civic problems associated with education, youth, and families, and to guide the actions of responsible citizens and institutions dedicated to advancing the public good.