Neoliberal discourse in the free-college movement: policy contradictions and private sector actors within tuition-free legislation

The growth of tuition-free college has emerged during an era of policy contradiction in both state and federal policy contexts, where access to higher education has been demanded to meet state educational attainment goals grounded in larger economic and workforce needs, while the financial resources (i.e. state appropriations, financial aid) needed to facilitate higher education access have been eroded. Both sides of this policy contradiction can be attributed to neoliberal assumptions about the value of a college degree and the state’s role in providing access to higher education as individuals pursue their private interests. Simultaneously with this policy contradiction, the neoliberal era has also seen a rise in educational policy networks increasingly influenced by private-sector actors, who have better positioned themselves within these networks and exert greater influence on the policy process. This qualitative, critical policy analysis illuminates the neoliberal logics at play in the tuition-free agenda, drawing a corpus of legislative texts proposed or enacted at the state level. Findings from the analysis center a critical perspective on how access to higher education and the state’s workforce demands are presented as mutually beneficial, and on how private-sector actors can shape specific tuition-free program designs.