Andrew Delbanco Assesses Higher Education’s Full Value Amid Questions About Rising Costs

With newly minted college graduates entering the job market this spring — or at least trying to — there’s a growing discussion and debate about the ever-rising costs of higher education, the spiraling burden of student debt and the value of college for all. In fact, some have argued that the traditional four-year college education might not be the right choice for some students.

Andrew Delbanco, author, cultural critic and professor of humanities at Columbia University, has a new book aimed at some of those very questions but looking at other values too, including intellectual, financial and cultural issues that universities are facing. It’s called “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be.”

Jeffrey Brown spoke with him recently. Here’s an extended version of their conversation: