First published 2017
Tressie McMillan Cottom draws on her experience as a recruiter at two for-profit colleges to examine an industry that enrolls more than two million students. She analyzes the rapid expansion of these institutions during what she calls the Wall Street era of for-profit education. McMillan Cottom conducted over one hundred interviews with students, employees, executives, and activists to reveal the recruitment tactics and marketing strategies these schools use. The book profiles mothers paying for beauty school, working class men seeking better jobs, and professionals pursuing doctoral degrees. McMillan Cottom argues that for-profit colleges both reflect and amplify existing inequalities in American society. She connects their growth to broader issues of race, gender, and economic opportunity. The author shows how education has shifted from serving public interests to generating private profits, creating new forms of vulnerability rather than addressing underlying social problems.
Genres: social-issues, education, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, social-commentary
228 pages · Hardcover · The New Press