The financialization of higher education through distance education in Brazil

Abstract

The expansion of distance education (EaD), driven by educational oligopolies, functions as a fundamental mechanism for the expanded reproduction of fictitious capital. Grounded in the theoretical-methodological framework of Historical-Dialectical Materialism (HDM), with an emphasis on the categories of contradiction and mediation, this study primarily aimed to understand how the growing expansion of EaD enrollments, led by the holdings Cogna Educação and YDUQS, fits within the laws of capital movement in the current context. The research employed techniques such as mapping the CAPES database of theses and dissertations, documentary analysis of the managerial reports of the two corporations (2019–2025), and data from the Higher Education Census (2014–2024). The results showed that Cogna and YDUQS use the EaD modality as the main lever for value growth strategies, prioritizing models that offer higher returns on invested capital. This movement materializes the contradiction between education as a social right and its subsumption under the logic of the commodity. The study also observed the contradictory role of the State, which acts as a systematic operator of educational capital valorization, financing commercialization through fiscal incentives via ProUni, which, in practice, function as transfers of public funds to private revenue. Furthermore, the restructuring and constant acquisitions carried out by the holdings increase the number of digital enrollments and facilitate access to these fiscal benefits, consolidating their growth and profitability in the sector.