Portside

Colleges and universities, which receive enormous tax benefits to serve the public interest, should be held to a minimum level of effort to enroll and graduate low-income and working-class students eligible for Pell grants. Governments could also provide financial rewards targeted to universities that commit to increasing socioeconomic diversity and that shift their funds from non-need merit grants to students in actual need.

We recognize that free, quality K–12 education is a right of citizenship. We also need to recognize—as we once did and as many countries still do—that the same is true of higher education.

How Wall Street Skims Higher Education. Richard Pryor & Maya Angelou. Documentary: Citizen Koch. John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, "I'm In The Mood." John Oliver: Stop Cable Company F**kery.

Since the founding of public higher education, our nation has moved progressively toward expanding the doors of access. But in the last generation, we have moved in the opposite direction. State higher education funding on a per-student basis is lower today than it was in 1980. Federal financial aid no longer provides grants robust enough to defray the rising cost of college.

Adjunct abuse is one of higher education's great sins. So why is a leading writing conference not discussing it?

"The academy never stood apart from American slavery," Wilder writes in the book. "In fact, it stood beside church and state as the third pillar of a civilization built on bondage."

The college ranking game diverts from the need for public support to make higher education affordable.

Many faculty advocates say Obama’s plan for higher education consists of a patchwork of conservative and liberal policies that fall far short of pleasing everyone -- or, depending on one’s opinion, anyone. More importantly, they said, the plan focuses on certain measurable student outcomes -- such as graduation rates -- but would do little to ensure actual student learning.