Getting In and Getting Through: Navigating Higher Education in Jordan

Jordanian families today face an educational edifice significantly changed by privatization, increased costs, and market-driven logics. While some students resist these structures through protests, we highlight the everyday ways in which Jordanians negotiate these changes and try to make the system work for them. Specifically, we analyze the educational experiences of students enrolled at Yarmouk University, one of the oldest public universities in Jordan. Based on the evidence analyzed, we argue that young people are aware of the effects of neoliberal economic policies on higher education and the Jordanian economy, and they actively seek to try and make the system work for them. At times embracing a neoliberal subject position of self-reliance and personal responsibility, they also work tirelessly to circumvent and negotiate a system that limits their educational and professional aspirations.