One clear influence on the Obama plan is a proposal by Sara Goldrick-Rab and Nancy Kendall, professors at the University of Wisconsin. They argue that the current financial aid system is broken, which explains why “students from high-income families who enter college are now six times more likely than those from low-income families to complete bachelor’s degrees by age 25.” They instead advocate universal community college, with students freed from covering both tuition costs and living costs. Their proposal differs from Mr. Obama’s in some substantial ways, including the fact that they would redirect federal money currently being spent on financial aid at private colleges. Yet it’s also clear that White House officials devising their plan have thought about the Goldrick-Rab-Kendall plan.
The research conducted by Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab has been a tremendous resource in helping me better understand the challenges students face in getting a fair shot at a college education, and what steps Congress can take to address them. Dr. Goldrick-Rab’s research and testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last year inspired me to introduce legislation to help working students and she was a trusted partner in developing the Working Student Act.
If you ever have the chance to take a methods class with Sara Goldrick-Rab, do it. Or, follow her on Twitter. Class is always in session.
Sara Goldrick-Rab makes it a point to talk about college affordability with people all along the spectrum of political philosophy. “I have found thought partners wherever I can get them,” she says. “I want my talk to be effective; therefore I have to talk to people who don’t think like me. It is thought-provoking, it is eye-opening, it makes me a better scholar.”
It was a great pleasure to have you visit with my first year education class at Lake State! I could tell you are an educator because you can just jump in and teach at a moment’s notice! You did a wonderful job of putting semi-complex ideas about funding policy into terms everyone understood. I thought it was great!
Sara Goldrick-Rab, or SGR, is an academic force. She is a powerful combination of brilliance, integrity and passion. It was an honor to take a class with her. Class requires tremendous critical thinking ability, but she really helps foster it (more so than any other class I’ve taken). However, prepare to read like you’re in law school.
My best professor at UW. Goldrick-Rab genuinely cares about her class and you can definitely tell. She wants you to contribute your ideas to discussion, and if you do that the class will go by quickly and you’ll learn more. Your ideas and thoughts are taken seriously as peers, and she is always available for a phone call. Always take her if you can
“Sara, what’s your mission in life?”
My initial instinct is to answer the very usual “change the world,” but I think it’s a little more specific than that….My grandfather went to college on
the GI Bill. Because he went to college, he was able to get my grandmother to marry him. My grandmother is from a
highly educated family. She went to Northwestern. My grandfather was the kid from the Bronx who would’ve
been just the kid from the Bronx; he probably would’ve gone into the military and not done much else, but for the GI
bill. So I have very little tolerance for a country that says that “anybody can
come here and live the dream” and yet every bit of educational opportunity that we provide seems so tightly linked to family income. I’m pretty determined
to try to break that link.
