Sufficientarian Justice in Higher Education

Abstract

In this thesis, I argue for a sufficientarian conception of justice in higher education. I discuss the goods that higher education confers to its graduates, what a just distribution of those goods entails, and some reforms that would help the American system of higher education better adhere to the requirements of justice. Currently in the United States, institutions of higher education confer their benefits to those who are already advantaged at a disproportionate rate. This disables social mobility and serves to help the rich get richer. Primarily using sufficientarian frameworks outlined by Debra Satz and Elizabeth Anderson, I argue in favor of expanding higher education's accessibility through several potential reforms. Alongside this argument, I refute economist Bryan Caplan's view that higher education teaches very little that is useful to its students and should have its enrollment decreased, as well as Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift's egalitarian view of justice in higher education.