It Takes More Than a Village, It Takes a Nation

Neoliberalism is the favoring of markets and private gain over governments and the collective good. For the last few decades, neoliberalism has dominated political discourse and policymaking in almost every social and governmental arena. Indeed, higher education in the United States has proven to be an effective refuge for neoliberal philosophy and practices while simultaneously justifying and reinforcing socioeconomic stratification under the guise of equal competition and the myth of meritocracy. The engagement of groups through the Internet, quantitatively and experientially, differentiates crowdsourcing and crowdfunding from previous examples of group problem-solving, election contests, voting, fundraising, and pooling. The chapter presents the question, "Can crowdsourcing be a viable option to help ease student loan debt burden?". It concludes by recognizing that the student loan debt crisis takes more than a village to solve—it takes a nation.