Ivory Tower

Is college worth the cost? Filmmaker Andrew Rossi asks the critical question about the value of higher education in the U.S., revealing how colleges have come to embrace a business model that often promotes expansion over quality learning. As tuition rates spiral beyond reach and student loan debt passes $1 trillion (more than credit card debt), IVORY TOWER asks: Is college worth the cost? From the halls of Harvard, to public colleges in financial crisis, to Silicon Valley, filmmaker Andrew Rossi assembles an urgent portrait of a great American institution at the breaking point. Through profiles at Arizona State, Cooper Union, and San Jose State - among several others - this documentary reveals how colleges in the United States, long regarded as leaders in higher education, came to embrace a business model that often promotes expansion over quality learning. But along the way we also find unique programs, from Stanford to the free desert school Deep Springs to the historically black all women's college Spelman, where the potential for life-changing college experiences endure. (texte officiel du distributeur)