Considers the impact of Costa Rican public higher education expansion on social stratification and labor markets. Suggests that the 1970s reform was accompanied by increased stratification of the higher education population through creation of new institutions of different quality, dilution of education resources, and stimulation of drop-out…

This case study of the commercialized teaching profession in Costa Rican higher education urges circumspection; the term "efficient and productive change" camouflages the state-sanctioned commodification of the instructional enterprise. Courses are becoming proprietary courseware, machinery for selling intellectual capital is emerging,…