REVIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM

THE CRISIS OF ACCESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Free & Open to the Public!

October 27, 2006

3pm to 5pm
Tremont Temple Baptist Church
88 Tremont Street, Boston

A college degree is still the strongest path to personal prosperity, social mobility, and an engaged citizenry. Yet, rising costs, government cut-backs, shrinking Pell grants, and even some universities’ willingness to trade financial aid for national rankings have combined to place a huge burden on low- and middle-income students.
 
This decade more than four million qualified students will be denied access to the life-transforming experience that is a college education, simply because it is beyond the financial reach of their families.*
 
Are colleges destined to become gated communities available only to the wealthy? Or is higher education a societal investment whose returns far outweigh the costs?
 
Join Suffolk University and a nationally-renowned panel of thinkers, writers, scholars, and government leaders as they ask the tough questions—and provide some hard answers— about the growing divide between the promise of the American Dream and what we as a nation are actually delivering.
 
 
PANELISTS INCLUDE:
 
Lewis Lapham, Keynote Speaker
Harper’s Magazine
The editor of Harper’s magazine from 1983 to 2006, Lewis Lapham has distinguished himself as America’s most incisive essayist. Winner of the prestigious National Magazine Award, Mr. Lapham is the author of 14 books, including Money and Class in America. A frequent commentator on the nation’s educational debate, Mr. Lapham brings a sense of wit and truth-telling to the issues that is as refreshing as it is unique. To quote Bill Moyers, Mr. Lapham is “not afraid to speak the truth to the powerful and wealthy.”
 
Richard D. Kahlenberg
Senior Fellow,
Century Foundation
Richard D. Kahlenberg is Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation and a prolific writer on education and equal opportunity. The author of All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools through Public School Choice, Mr. Kahlenberg’s work frequently appears in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the New Republic.
 
Thomas G. Mortenson
Senior Scholar, Pell Institute
Thomas G. Mortenson is Senior Scholar at The Pell Institute in Washington, D. C., and a renowned expert on financial aid and access issues. He is also editor and publisher of Postsecondary Education Opportunity, a monthly research letter on educational opportunity in the United States.
 
Dr. Rodney Paige
Former Secretary of Education
The 7th U.S. Secretary of Education, Dr. Rodney Paige is perhaps best known as a proponent of George W. Bush’s controversial “No Child Left Behind” act. A former college dean and superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, Mr. Paige’s vast experience as a practitioner—from the blackboard to the boardroom—has given him a broad perspective on educational issues.
 
Dr. Blenda J. Wilson
Moderator
Blenda Wilson is President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, a non-profit grant agency dedicated to promoting access to under-served populations in education. She was formerly president of the University of California at Northridge, chancellor of the University of Michigan, Dearborn, and associate dean at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
 
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL 617.573.8443
 
*Data from the Department of Education’s Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid.