Feldman receives NASFAA award
David Feldman, professor and chair of the department of economics, received the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ (NASFAA) 2012 Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award. The “Golden Quill” is given annually in recognition for writing about higher education and financial aid. The award was presented at the association’s annual conference held July 22-25 in Chicago.
Feldman is the co-author, with William & Mary Professor of Economics Robert Archibald, of “Why Does College Cost So Much?,” and many other professional and policy articles on higher education. Feldman also recently spoke to a NASFAA forum on the state of college access and has written about college cost for their policy journal.
“I’m surprised and honored to get this award,” said Feldman. “Next year Bob should get it. We’ve done so much of this work together.”
In their book, Archibald and Feldman, examine higher-education costs as part of “the entire industrial structure of the country and economic history of the past 100 years.” This comparative approach, Feldman noted, is often missing in the hotly politicized contemporary discussion of rising college cost. Archibald and Feldman’s work emphasizes the role of technology as a force pushing up all service prices, college included.
Feldman joined the William & Mary faculty in 1989. Over the last decade he has focused his research on the cost of higher education. His early study was in the fields of international trade and economic development.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators supports the training, diversity and professional development of financial aid administrators. According to its website, the association includes more than 18,000 student financial assistance professions nationwide.