Name: Ramy Abbady
Email: ramy.abbady@nyu.edu
Program: Sociology of Education
Research Interests: student loans, college costs, and racial inequality; community college and public higher education; demography
Principal Advisor(s): Lisa Stulberg (chair), Dom Brewer, Sebastian Cherng, Ravi Shroff
Research description/bio: Ramy began his PhD in the Sociology of Education program in Fall 2020. His previous education includes a B.A. from Vassar College in educational studies with a minor in physics and an M.A. in higher education and student affairs from the University of San Francisco. In spring of 2023, Ramy also earned an M.Phil in sociology of education at NYU. Prior to beginning his PHD program, Ramy was based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they worked at several universities in student housing, academic advising, and graduate program administration.
These experiences working in higher education have inspired Ramy’s research interests. Through seeing the inequities faced by students, even at public universities intended to be accessible to all, Ramy became interested in student loan debt, with a specific interest in how free tuition policies impact people of color, first-generation college students, and other marginalized populations. This has driven his research agenda, which focuses on the racialized impacts of college costs and student debt, with a particular focus on public higher education (including community colleges) in New York.
Selected Awards, Publications, and Presentations: Institute for Education Sciences Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Fellow, 2021-2014