Trinidad Vera’s research while affiliated with Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and other places

Some universities, often the most prestigious in a higher education system, select qualified applicants solely on the basis of their measured academic or cognitive abilities. The universities' assumption is that these cognitive abilities are an accurate and complete measure of the applicants' capacity to benefit from university study. This study assesses the extent to which the cognitive measures used are partially the result of other, non-cognitive factors unrelated to future academic performance. Sole reliance on cognitive measures skews university admission in favour of those of higher socioeconomic status. Data for the study were collected by the University of Chile's Department of Evaluation, Measurement and Educational Registration (DEMRE) from 190,000 applicants seeking admission to Chile's 39 selective universities in 2019. The analysis identifies the direct and indirect effects of variables measuring applicants' cognitive and non-cognitive attributes. Logistic regression models were constructed to estimate the differential effect of the two types of factors on admission. The results indicate that non-cognitive factors have an indirect effect on admission through their effect on cognitive scores. Access to selective universities in Chile is partially influenced by students' prior social, cultural, and economic conditions. As a consequence, university education is distributed partially on the basis of social origin and not just ability. The admission process should be changed to reduce discrimination against applicants based on their social origin.

Fifty years ago, the expansion of access to higher education was expected to result in greater socio-economic equality. Instead, segmentation in mass higher education systems has called into question the effective democratization of access to higher education. This phenomenon appeared first in higher income countries, allowing the identification of some factors that contribute to segmentation. This article seeks to provide evidence from the Chilean case, evaluating how students' social backgrounds affect admission to different types of universities. Data for the study were taken from the applications of 57,780 students admitted in 2019. Multinomial logistic regression was employed. The results showed that, depending on their background, students of the same level of academic performance follow different paths. Students from families with a high level of income or graduated from private secondary school were more likely to be admitted to private universities. Some of the dynamics present in European countries and the United States are also observed in Chile, particularly those related to the segregation of the school system and private provision and funding at the tertiary level.

How does a policy of free tuition affect student applications to universities? This article assesses how free tuition influences applications in terms of the selectivity of the university, length of the degree program, cost of the program, and application to a program in the STEM field. The study based on a quasi-experimental design was carried out in Chile using OLS, regression adjustment and matching analysis, and governmental data. Participants in the study were 384,830 applicants from three cohorts of high school graduates who applied to 30 selective universities. Two groups of applicants were compared: those who applied in 2015, before the introduction of free tuition; and those who applied in 2016 and 2017, when free tuition was introduced. The comparison was made considering the group with the lowest family income. Except for cost, the results show that the offer of free tuition had a small impact on the choices of applicants. With free tuition, a few more students applied to higher cost programs. The response may be explained in part by the fact that free education replaced the financing mechanism based on scholarships and loans, which covered a large part of the costs of the degree programs.