Paying the Price

In Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream Sara Goldrick-Rab combines rigorous research, personal stories, and policy analysis to show how rising tuition and an inadequate financial aid system are shutting out low- and middle-income students. She documents how grants and loans often fail to cover basic living expenses, how hidden costs and unstable housing derail students, and how current policies and rhetoric about college as the sure path to upward mobility mask deep structural inequities. The book calls for concrete reforms to financial aid, campus supports, and public policy to make college truly accessible and to restore its promise as a ladder to opportunity.