Social impact of mixed financing in higher education. The Chilean case

Abstract

Education is a way to fight the social inequality experienced in numerous countries, as it offers an alternative which benefits progress and social development. In Chile, the preoccupation for developing tertiary education coverage since the 70s included structural reforms such as convergence from a financing system based on gratuity to a mixed one supported by the state and private systems, as well as access to loans and scholarships. That allowed a greater number of economically disfavored students to have access to higher education. This study describes and analyzes longitudinally the Chilean situation, particularly from 1990 to 2015. It also applies "Gini inequality coefficient" to education coverage and financing variables, and establishes analogical comparisons of education and equity rates with parameters from CASEN survey references against national and international studies. The research shows that the current financing system had a direct and positive influence on the country social mobility, especially regarding the two first income quintiles.