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Neoliberalism and the Crisis in Higher Education: The Cost of Ideology

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  • Beth Mintz

Abstract

A number of factors have contributed to the crisis in higher education, including the long‐term transformation in funding. In this article, I argue that neoliberalism can explain many of the processes leading to our changing commitment to colleges and universities and the cost increases that this change has produced. A number of neoliberal assumptions firmly rooted in conventional wisdom have contributed to a “student‐as‐customer” phenomenon, which is, itself, a cost driver. I look at the development of the student as customer as a vehicle for exploring tuition increases. I also examine the tension between education as a public and a private good and the marketization of higher education as crucial drivers of these transformations. In doing so, I emphasize that the student as customer has been created by the changes in the way we think about, organize, and fund education, rather than any fundamental change in young people.

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  • Beth Mintz, 2021. "Neoliberalism and the Crisis in Higher Education: The Cost of Ideology," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(1), pages 79-112, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:80:y:2021:i:1:p:79-112
    DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12370
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    1. Webber, Douglas A. & Ehrenberg, Ronald G., 2010. "Do expenditures other than instructional expenditures affect graduation and persistence rates in American higher education?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 947-958, December.
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    6. Bradley R. Curs & Larry D. Singell, 2010. "Aim High or Go Low? Pricing Strategies and Enrollment Effects When the Net Price Elasticity Varies with Need and Ability," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 81(4), pages 515-543, July.
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