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Tressie Cottom, Assistant Professor of Sociology, will talk about her new book, Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy (The New Press, 2017). Until recently American institutions of higher education have been driven not by the profit motive but a mission to train, educate, and cultivate minds. Yet today more than two million students are enrolled at for-profit colleges. Lower Ed is the first book to link the rapid growth of for-profit degrees to America's increasing inequality, revealing the story of an industry that exploits the pain, desperation, and aspirations of people in vulnerable circumstances. The author draws on her own experience as a former admissions counselor at two for-profit colleges as well as over one hundred interviews with students, senior executives, and activists to detail how these schools have become so successful and to examine the benefits, pitfalls, and real costs of a for-profit education.