A general description of the conceptualization of trust is provided, its necessity for a fruitful theoretical and empirical study of the fundamental problem of Russian higher education is substantiated. Conceptualization of trust covers its conceptual range, types, structure. Particular attention is drawn to the possibility of the emergence of non-linearity of trust in higher education. The author offers an interpretation of the nonlinearity of confi dence in high school through a set of a number of its specifi c features and characteristics. At the conceptual level, the differences and contradictions between interpersonal, community and institutional trust are shown. The possibilities of operationalization of the basic concepts and structural elements of trust are revealed.