There is a long-standing debate about whether undergraduate education is a private good, serving the needs of individuals, or a public good, meeting larger civic and community needs. The answer, we are convinced, is that undergraduate education is both a public and a private good.

“The mission of the land grant institution matters to me quite deeply,” she said. “This notion that higher education is something that should be provided to the citizens of the state, and that it is a state responsibility to bring that education to the people, that’s part of why I wanted to be here, to be part of that mission and to really think about what an institution of higher education with a public-serving focus can be in the 21st century.

We have real insights to offer the world as academics and not only should universities encourage us toward the public square, but they should expect us not to shy away from it.

Progressive wisdom now seems to converge around the idea that students sharing their work beyond the classroom provides them with meaningful motivation to do that work and a greater sense of purpose than is available within the classroom alone.

These experiences challenge us with regard to how to make sense of the public good role of higher education.

Research universities need to do a better job of explaining to the public the impact and importance of research, and the role it plays improving lives

“It has contributed to the abandonment of the notion of higher education as a public good in favor of it being viewed as a private commodity.”

I am most interested to see how the concepts around working open can help us find a way to talk about the value -- in particular the nonmarket social value -- of public higher education, and imagine a sustainable future for our public institutions.

Is Scholarly Knowledge Good for the Public?

What many of these individuals likely mean when they call higher education a public good is that higher education has positive externalities.

To qualify as a public good, a good must be both nonexcludable and nonrivalrous