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California, the Crisis and the Next Social Contract: Panel 2

418 views · Published 25 February 2009 · 59:08 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: New America · 2009 · News & Politics

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Panel II: Assuring Access to Higher Education

Michael Dannenberg, Senior Fellow and Founder, Education Policy Program, New America Foundation
"To my mind, the next social contract for higher education needs to look like a more integrated, unified, centralized system. I'm not sure if the country is ready for that yet."

Pat Callan, President, National Center for Public Policy & Higher Education
"We're not doing any worse than we were in 1990, but the rest of the world has not been complacent."

Michael Dannenberg introduced and moderated the second discussion about access to and affordability of higher education. Dannenberg noted the shift in higher education funding from public investment to private responsibility, postulated that the stimulus represents a lasting shift in state investment in higher education, offered options for how to direct the increased investment in higher education, and linked higher education to the goals of the Next Social Contract Initiative. Next, Pat Callan summarized his organization's public interest policy work, and described its biennial state-by-state report card on higher education, "Measuring Up," which grades each state on college preparation, enrollment, degree completion, affordability, and a degree's economic and civic benefits. He noted many of California's enormous successes over the past 50 years, but argued that serious changes are necessary if the United States is to remain a leader in higher education in the 21st century. The solutions to the most pressing problems of degree completion and affordability will not come at the federal level, however; the coming stimulus funds cannot delay a necessary conversation within the states.

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