REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación

This paper aims to address the changes that Spanish public universities have undergone with respect to their financing parameters. It takes as its main axis the increase in academic fees that was introduced starting in 2012, understanding this mechanism as a symptom and a sign of the application of elements of new public management to the higher education sector, a measure used to empower students and their families as consumers. Through a quantitative analytical study, using statistics from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of the public prices of undergraduate studies corresponding to academic year 2017/2018, we note the disparity between Autonomous Communities in the setting of public prices, caused by the establishment of different gradations according to the experimental nature of the studies in question, as well as the fostering of a means of private financing through the heading of academic fees. The study also highlights the establishment of a pricing system that penalizes students who do not achieve the expected academic results, by obliging them to pay more. All this defines a context marked by the commodification of education.