Arthur Scarritt from the Department of Sociology published new research in the journal “Critical Sociology” about how students respond to high tuition costs for higher education, according to a March 27 announcement.
The topic is important as rising tuition has become a major concern for students and families, influencing access to higher education and perceptions of social mobility.
Scarritt’s paper, titled “Learning to love accumulation by dispossession: How US university students value paying tuition and an elitist social order,” explores how student beliefs about paying tuition can lead them to accept conditions of an unequal society. In the abstract, Scarritt writes, “Rather than the neoliberal ideology of competition enhancing quality, students embraced having their wealth extracted through tuition because they believed the paywall of tuition both protected them from competition and made degrees scarce and thus valuable.”
The study suggests that instead of seeing competition as a driver for improvement in higher education, many students view high tuition as a way to safeguard their own opportunities while maintaining exclusivity. This attitude may contribute to sustaining an elitist social structure within universities.
Scarritt’s findings could have implications for discussions around educational policy and efforts aimed at making college more accessible. The full paper is available in “Critical Sociology.”
