"Sobering... Broke enables readers to understand how public institutions contribute to hardening the striations of the national class structure."

Public Books

“In a crowded field of studies on higher education, Broke distinguishes itself by presenting a truly unique, multifaceted, and critical portrait of the 'new university' as a racial project. Hamilton and Nielsen convincingly demonstrate how processes of 'postsecondary racial neoliberalism' concentrate underrepresented students of color in the least resourced public universities. In these institutional settings, diversity policies and practices are shaped not by only colorblind ideology, but austerity as well."

Michael Omi and Howard Winant, coauthors of Racial Formation in the United States

“Broke has the makings of a classic for the sociology of higher education, race, and class stratification. Hamilton and Nielsen document the evolution of the 'new university' in race- and class-stratified society during what they coin as the 'postsecondary racial neoliberal' era.  Bolstered by strong empirical analyses and captivating, incisive writing, this book draws the reader in and beckons us to shatter both the realities and ironies of segregated university education as conduits of economic mobility in a wealthy society."
 

Prudence L. Carter, author of Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools

"While their better-off peers enjoy the fruits of massive endowments and high tuitions, the striving students of 'new universities'—less-prestigious research universities serving disproportionately Black and Brown students—get the short end of the stick. A must-read analysis of the self-reinforcing effects of racist austerity logics and their painful human consequences, Broke pulls no punches."
 

Elizabeth Popp Berman, author of Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine

“Broke is theoretically rich, empirically sound, and radically clear-eyed about race and racism. It is high time that sociology and higher education research reckon with the inherent racialization of the institutions upon which we have pinned so many of our hopes for social change.”

Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges

"In Broke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities, authors Laura T. Hamilton and Kelly Nielsen argue that 'postsecondary radical neoliberalism' is at the root of the decades-long dismantling of public funding for higher education in the United States . . . The nuanced discussion of how neoliberalism yields austerity logics, which yield disinvestment in public universities, which yields creative solutions to funding problems, which yield exploitation of students’ career futures, all wrapped up in tensions and conflicts over campus diversity, makes Broke a compelling read."

American Journal of Sociology

"Broke presents a compelling portrait of the steps public campuses take to 'survive, and even thrive', and of the implications for the students, along with other members of new university campuses, who are stuck managing the fallout."

Social Forces

"This cleverly structured book compares two campuses serving the largest proportion of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority students within the University of California (UC) system. While low levels of state funding levels affect all 10 institutions within that system, these two campuses, according to the authors, have access to fewer additional resources and lower rankings on most best colleges lists because of the characteristics of the students they serve. . . . The authors draw effectively on race theory to explain their findings. . . thought-provoking. . ."

Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning

"[Hamilton and Nielsen] suggest a parallel structural trend between antiracist transformation and inequality: Rather than being engines of inequality eradication, new university forms emerge or adapt to survive the structural conditions of inequality. . . . Broke offers insights regarding intra-system inequalities based on the institutional status in the University of California (UC)."

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity