The high costs of higher education and its benefits to students and to society are central issues in the legislative and public debate on the public financing of higher education. In order to enrich and inform this debate in our state, Bailey Smolarek and Matthew Wolfgram at the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions have mentored a team of University of Wisconsin students to document how people consider the aims of higher education in their own communities.

The team of student researchers developed research questions and designed and conducted an innovative qualitative research study, and they will present their findings, with commentary from two of our top leaders and scholars of higher education in the state, Dean of the UW School of Education Diana Hess and UW Professor of Political Science Katherine J. Cramer.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Research on College to Workforce Transitions (CCWT).