college access

Higher Education

The Path to Free College with Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams

Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams is a professor of political science at Grand Valley State University where she teaches courses on international relations, poverty and inequality. She’s also a Senior Researcher with the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Michelle joins Mike Palmer on this episode to talk about her new book, The Path to Free College: In Pursuit of Access, Equity, and Prosperity. We begin by getting Michelle’s origin story to understand how tuition-free higher education has had a profound effect on her and her family. From there, we briefly explore the history of free public high school and free higher education through the examples from the University of California system and the City College of New York before picking up on the recent movement for tuition-free higher education beginning in 2005 with the Kalamazoo Promise.

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Higher Education

Postsecondary Education and Access with Robyn Phillips

Robyn Phillips is the Deputy Director of Postsecondary Access at The Urban Assembly. The Urban Assembly is a non-profit organization working to advance students’ economic and social mobility by improving public education. Robyn is also the Board Chair of the College Access Consortium of New York (CACNY).

On this episode, Robyn joins Mike to explain what postsecondary education looks like in 2020 and how she helps high school students and their families navigate decisions about their life after graduating from one of The UA’s 23 affiliated schools located across New York City. We get Robyn’s perspective on what it’s like for families making postsecondary education decisions in light of the pandemic and emotional upheaval of this year before concluding with her take on new and emerging trends on the horizon.

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