Higher Education Cost Versus Benefit are Topics

10/31/2013 

American higher education has come under very strong criticism in recent years, especially in terms of its undoubtedly growing expense and reportedly shrinking value.

Craig Little, a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, will address the fairness of the negative scrutiny and examine some sociological trends about earning a college degree in the U.S. during a community roundtable on Thursday, Nov. 7, at SUNY Cortland.

Little, a professor in the College’s Sociology/Anthropology Department, will present “American Higher Education: Problems and Prospects,” from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Park Center Hall of Fame Room.

Sponsored by the College President’s Office, the College’s four annual roundtables are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 7:45 a.m. During the roundtable, public parking is available in the Park Center and Professional Studies Building lots.

 “The U.S. contemporary media are filled with queries and analyses of this sort: ‘Is college a lousy investment?’ and ‘Does a university degree cost too much?’,” Little said.

“Meanwhile, more academic treatments include books with titles like Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality and Higher Education in the Digital Age,” he said.

“This presentation will examine past, current and anticipated future trends in American higher education aiming to address the following question: ‘To what degree should higher education be treated as a public good or as an individual investment?’”

Little’s current work focuses on developing collaborative online international distance learning courses with faculty abroad. For more than a decade, he has been active in the international organization called AUDEM, the Alliance of Universities for Democracy.

At SUNY Cortland, Little has chaired the Sociology/Anthropology Department for more than 16 years. He is the author and editor of two books and numerous articles on various aspects of deviance, crime and social control. 

He is involved actively in the Cortland community and with SUNY Cortland students, having served as the project director of two large community outreach partnership center grants to encourage partnerships between the Cortland community and the College. He has served as a research, planning and evaluation consultant for numerous human services agencies in Upstate New York.

Little received his B.A. from Colby College in Maine and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of New Hampshire. 

For more information about the roundtables, contact Susan Vleck at 607-753-2377.