Gratuity Policy and Academic Performance in Higher Vocational Education. Lessons derived from the experience of Duoc UC.

Abstract

Esta investigación analiza la relación entre la política de gratuidad implementada en Chile y medidas de desempeño académico en estudiantes de una institución de educación superior técnico-profesional (TP). Se aporta evidencia a un ámbito poco abordado en el país, especialmente en este subsector. Mediante la utilización de modelos de regresión lineal y logística, se puede concluir que la gratuidad efectivamente tuvo un efecto de disminuir la deserción y aumentar el rendimiento. Pero esto fue resultado de que benefició a muchos estudiantes que antes debían efectuar un nivel de pago, dado que sus ayudas no cubrían el arancel total cobrado. Si se contrasta a beneficiarios de gratuidad con quienes no debieron copagar por contar con becas y créditos juntos, los resultados muestran que la gratuidad es menos eficiente en término de los dos indicadores académicos analizados.

Chilean Universities and Universal Gratuity: Suggestions for a Model to Evaluate the Effects on Financial Vulnerability

“…In the last decade, gratuity in higher education has been increasingly discussed due to the significant resources invested in this type of social policy. The Philippines and New Zealand developed gratuity policies in the last decade, while Canada and Chile developed policies of selective gratuity [68]. This policy is discus when per capita national income is relatively high to allow the State to obtain the necessary permanent resources.…”

“…This policy is discus when per capita national income is relatively high to allow the State to obtain the necessary permanent resources. [68,69].…”

“…The authors of [32,68,84,85] estimated that universal gratuity could negatively affect the financial sustainability of universities affiliated with gratuity. Furthermore, these authors posit that the new model of proposed funding, regulated tuition, would not cover the entirety of the real tuition, thus generating a funding gap that would have to be covered by universities with the potential risk of affecting the institution's solvency.…”

“…The authors of [68,86] noted that as a product, gratuity has faced several problems in its implementation, such as financial deficits, tuition fixing, and a regulated increase in total enrolment. Another negative effect of gratuity is associated with the over-duration of students who possess gratuity, as the law terminates the benefit at the end of the duration of the program.…”

Explaining Loyalty in Higher Education: A Model and Comparative Analysis from the Policy of Gratuity, a Case Applied to Chile

“…From 2012, the system for financing higher education was improved and a very important social demand was incorporated, which was gratuity in higher education, as a way of promoting greater equity in the system [38]. In 2017, the gratuity policy was extended to technical professional education under the same conditions that applied to universities, adding the condition that the institutions be non-profit, and in 2018 the benefit of gratuity was widened to students in the first six deciles [71]. As a product of these transformations, Chile is currently the undisputed leader in coverage of higher education in Latin America, with rates today above 75% in people between 18 and 24 years of age.…”