Disillusionment Among Young People in the University Context

Authors:

Francisco Javier Ortega

Francisco Javier González Mejia

Yenni Angélica Conde Cardona

Abstract

This article primarily analyzes the ongoing crisis in Colombia’s higher education system, characterized, among other factors, by a growing sense of disillusionment among young people toward university education. Drawing on critical theoretical frameworks such as the credential society (Collins, 1979), social reproduction theory (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1970), and the critique of meritocracy (Sandel, 2020), the paper examines the structural disconnect between the massification of access to higher education and the demands of the labor market. It also explores the wage inequality associated with institutional accreditation and the socioeconomic burden imposed by student debt. The study concludes that, far from fulfilling its promise of upward mobility, the Colombian university system has refined mechanisms of stratification that reinforce youth disenchantment with the institution of higher education.