Higher Education: The Tuition is Too D*mn High - NAACP vs AEI
The Price Tag of Knowledge: Is College Still Worth It?
Tuition keeps climbing, student debt tops $1.7 trillion, and public trust in the value of a degree is slipping. Has higher education become a luxury good, or is it still the best investment you can make in yourself? We’ll explore why costs have soared, what’s driving the debt crisis, and whether new models (public funding, online programs, or employer partnerships) can change the equation. Join us for an evening of candid debate on whether college is still the golden ticket, or a bubble waiting to burst.
Wisdom Cole of the NAACP, and Preston Cooper of AEI will go head to head to debate the future of American Education. Tickets cover admission and open bar.
Wisdom O. Cole (NAACP)
Wisdom Cole is one of the country’s most visible young voices on racial equity and student debt reform. As the NAACP’s Senior National Director of Advocacy — and former head of its Youth & College Division — he’s led national campaigns pressing the White House and Congress to cancel student debt, expand access to HBCUs, and reimagine what opportunity looks like for the next generation of Black Americans. Cole’s organizing background gives him a ground-level view of how college costs and debt burdens hit working-class families, and his media presence has helped bring those stories to national attention. His message is unapologetically activist: higher education should be a tool of liberation, not lifelong liability.
Preston Cooper (American Enterprise Institute)
Preston Cooper brings the economist’s scalpel to higher education’s most sacred assumptions. A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Cooper’s research measures which degrees and institutions actually deliver a return on investment — and which quietly leave students worse off. His writing in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The Washington Post has challenged the idea that “college always pays,” arguing instead for more transparency, accountability, and market discipline in a $2 trillion system. Where some see crisis, he sees inefficiency — and believes reform starts with hard data, not good intentions.
Run of Show:
6:30pm - Doors Open
7pm - Debate
8pm - Breakout discussions
9pm - Depart and after-party