University of Wisconsin-Madison professorship She intended to pursue a career in applied research until she was encouraged to apply for a position in higher education policy and sociology at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. Goldrick-Rab accepted the position in 2004 with the intent to make Wisconsin colleges more accessible. and found that the grants benefitted comparatively disadvantaged students most, such as first-generation college students with lower ACT scores. In an early study of Single Stop, an on-campus program that connects community college students to government services, Goldrick-Rab found that participant retention improved. Goldrick-Rab served as the lead author of the
Brookings Institution's 2009 “Transforming America's Community Colleges” report. Many of its recommendations were included in President
Barack Obama’s American Graduation Initiative later that year. As part of the report, Goldrick-Rab co-authored a background paper with Peter Kinsley that highlighted disparities between predominantly white community colleges and those with predominantly minority enrollment. which impacted federal legislation on financial aid limits for working students.
The New York Times cited the report as a “clear influence on the Obama plan” for free community college introduced during the
2015 State of the Union Address.
The Chronicle of Higher Education similarly included Goldrick-Rab first on their list of people who influenced the plan. Goldrick-Rab praised the Tennessee Promise program, the basis for Obama's free community college plan. While she appreciated how it makes college attendance a financial possibility for students, she noted its weakness in not providing for their living expenses. The plan for two free years of college proposed by Goldrick-Rab and Kendall faced extensive criticism, including concerns about its lack of detail, vague definitions of length, and apparent focus on full-time students. David Breneman, an economics of education professor at the University of Virginia, described the plan as “not realistic”. Robert Kelchen, assistant professor at Seton Hall University, called the proposal "unworkable" given its removal of federal financial aid for students attending private universities. Chris Rickert of the
Wisconsin State Journal argued that the plan would shortchange Wisconsin private institutions that enroll and graduate more minority students than
University of Wisconsin System schools. Similarly, Minnesota higher education commissioner
Larry Pogemiller emphasized that the plan neglected private institutions, covered only two years of college, and subsidized all students regardless of financial background. Goldrick-Rab founded the Wisconsin Harvesting Opportunities for Postsecondary Education (HOPE) Lab in May 2014 to test the efficacy of college affordability programs. The lab received $6.5 million in potential funding from the
Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, and additional support from the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Kresge Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, and others. Following her
The New York Times op-ed,
Inside Higher Ed Matt Reed commended Goldrick-Rab for the study's focus on student
precarity rather than
poverty alone. Goldrick-Rab spoke against Wisconsin's elimination of
faculty tenure from state statute in July 2015. Her subsequent
Twitter activity, in which she compared
the then-state governor with
Adolf Hitler and discouraged future students from attending the university, drew criticism from conservative news groups. Madison's Faculty Senate steering committee responded that they were "deeply dismayed" by her actions, which they felt had damaged the principle of
academic freedom. Goldrick-Rab left Wisconsin in 2016 to begin an appointment at
Temple University. In her departure, she criticized the effect of the state's tenure policy on the university's teaching environment. and she served as The Hope Center's founding director. The Hope Center conducts an annual survey and annual conference as part of its #RealCollege initiative. Goldrick-Rab is currently the Board Secretary of Believe in Students. Goldrick-Rab appeared in the 2019
Doc NYC documentary
Hungry to Learn, which was produced by
Soledad O'Brien and Geeta Gandbhir. In 2022 Temple announced an investigation of Goldrick-Rab's leadership of the Hope Center and placed her on administrative leave. Goldrick-Rab resigned her position at Temple in August 2022.
As an author Goldrick-Rab wrote the book
Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream, which was published in 2016.
Paying the Price is about
the high cost of higher education in the United States for college and university students, and how the high cost of higher education in the United States has negatively impacted the lives of those who attend college in the United States. == Awards ==