SummaryAs 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.
Directed By:Andrew Rossi
Written By:Andrew Rossi
Ivory Tower
Metascore
Generally Favorable
65
User score
Available after 4 ratings
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
65
79% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
21% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jun 12, 2014
83
Rossi’s scathing (yet seemingly fair) documentary doesn’t just illustrate the institutional ironies of modern education. It also strives to understand why tuition is at an all-time high when knowledge is practically free.
Jun 19, 2014
75
Ivory Tower covers a lot of ground, and sometimes the focus feels diffuse.
Jun 13, 2014
75
Rossi investigates the increasing use of massive open online courses and other flexible programs and talks to such education experts as Columbia professor Andrew Delbanco.
Jun 12, 2014
70
This film throws an enormous amount of information at us both in terms of original interviews and archival footage from more than 100 sources, but it's too sophisticated to suggest that any one-size-fits-all solution is lurking just over the horizon.
Jun 13, 2014
63
There’s enough interesting, raw material in Ivory Tower to consider but one wishes it was shaped into something more cohesive and pointed in its attack and approach.
Jun 12, 2014
60
This insightful doc from director Andrew Rossi addresses topics that get more polarizing each year: the high cost of college, the factors that dictate who’s educated in this country and the culture that surrounds those decisions.
Jun 12, 2014
50
Ivory Tower asks a lot of provocative, important questions, but it’s decidedly short on answers, and even shorter on satisfying or convincing answers.
User score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
100% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Jun 30, 2014
7
An engaging look at the troubling state of American higher education, how we got here and how we might get out of it. Despite the absence of ready-made answers and a tendency to keep from going for the jugular as much as it could (or should) have, the film nevertheless gives us pause to assess where we're at, what we want out of our educational system and some clues on how to fix it.
Production Company:
- Participant
Release Date:Jun 13, 2014
Duration:1 h 30 m
Rating:PG-13
Tagline:Is college worth the cost?
Awards
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Miami Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
News & Documentary Emmy Awards
• 1 Nomination
