Bolsa Família: University students in the program and in CadÚnico – 02/14/2024 – Market

In 2010, the life of Rejane dos Santos, 41, would change forever. When she lost her house in a storm in Niterói (RJ), she had to register with CadÚnico (Cadastro Único), a database through which it is possible to access benefits, such as Bolsa Família.

The family no longer earned enough to support themselves and had to resort to the program.

“From one moment to the next, life became much more difficult and we needed to apply for the benefit, we were registered until now, in January, and that was what helped us. I always say that Bolsa Família is a bridge that we use to stabilize and move on.”

Over time, her husband, who had a degree in radiology, managed to relocate. And she, who is finishing her law course, now works at a branch of Banco Arariboia, which manages a social currency of the same name in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro.

“Today we have our own house and we have already managed to make plans. Our daughters, aged 15 and 12, know that the path was not easy and that the diploma does not guarantee everything, but they look up to us. One wants to study medicine and the other, right,” she says.

Just like Santos’ family, the percentage of people with college and who are on Bolsa Família or have an income compatible with CadÚnico has grown in recent years.

To be on the register you must have a monthly income of up to half a minimum wage per person or a total monthly family income of up to three minimum wages.

The survey is from IMDS (Mobility and Social Development Institute), based on data from PnadC (Continuous National Household Sample Survey).

Among people aged 18 to 65 who live in households that fall under CadÚnico, around 3.6%, or 1.6 million, had higher education in 2022. In 2016, there were 826 thousand (2.1%), an increase of 774 thousand.

Among people aged 18 to 65 who declared having received income from Bolsa Família, 256 thousand (around 2.1% of the total) had already completed college in 2022 — compared to 84 thousand (0.9%) in 2016 , 172 thousand more.

In both cases, the biggest increases occurred between 2019, before the pandemic, and 2022.

Meanwhile, 28% of people with the highest 40% of incomes had completed higher education in 2022 — a similar level to 2016 (approximately 27.4%).

The hardest years of the pandemic were also difficult on the job market, with companies closing and job losses in different segments, which could signal an increase in graduates who needed the program.

In 2022, of the people who declared receiving Bolsa Família, 38% were employed. Of those eligible for CadÚnico, there were 43.6%, according to PnadC data.

Also, 65.1% of the people who said they were beneficiaries of the program were informal, and 52.5% of those who had an income lower than the limit compatible with CadÚnico were informal.

Leandro Rocha, economist at IMDS, and Sergio Guimarães, director of research at the institute, who compiled the data, remember that entering the job market in a precarious way usually results in a lower income.

On the other hand, access to higher education, particularly in the period up to 2015 and 2016, was facilitated by ProUni (study grants), the increase in the number of public universities and the quota law (2012).

They also add that the causal impact of Bolsa Família on higher education has not yet been mapped in depth in the literature.

For Aparecida Carvalho de Souza, 53, joining Bolsa Família brought the chance to go back to studying. “With the R$600, I can pay the monthly fee for social service college, R$154, and still have some left over to buy food and pay the bills”, calculates the resident of Santo André, in ABC Paulista.

She, who has worked for 13 years with groups that help people with HIV, wants to use her future training to take part in a competition and continue participating in projects. “Sometimes, people just need a word and empathy. When they have more information, they start to see others differently.”

Like Souza, many beneficiaries take advantage of the monthly resource — and the possibility of having the purchase of basic goods resolved — to advance in their studies.

Among young people aged 18 to 29 living in households where someone receives Bolsa Família, 431 thousand (4.7%) were attending higher education in 2022, compared to 256 thousand (3.4%) in this situation in 2016.

For those young people belonging to families with income similar to the typical CadÚnico public, this percentage increased from 5% (672 thousand) to 6.6% (874 thousand) in the same period.

“If we look at the percentage of these young people aged 18 to 29 who are attending college, we will notice an increase that shows a current investment in education”, says Guimarães.

The researchers consider that, although the scope of the PnadC allows the analysis of work and education issues, as it is a sample survey, the finer the cut, the lower the precision.

Furthermore, data from 2020 and 2021 could not be used due to the absence of the “other income” supplement in the research, which allows the household income to be measured and whether the person receives Bolsa Família.

CadÚnico has data available until 2018, which shows that 2.1% of those registered attended higher education. The registry, however, does not separate those who completed the course from those who only attended college. It also does not show the occupation area of ​​the registered person.

Even so, the numbers show that the occupancy rate is higher for those who attended higher education: 46.9% compared to 35.2% for those who did not attend college. Among university students, informality is also lower: 43.8% compared to 80.6% among those who did not attend.

“My daughter talks about studying drawing, gastronomy or nutrition; my son is a young apprentice in a company, but he still doesn’t talk about college”, says Claudia Neves de Souza, 44, resident of the north zone of São Paulo. She herself enjoys that life has become more organized after participating in Bolsa Família and wants to start studying pedagogy this year.

Since 2017, Souza started working in a shelter service for children in vulnerable situations, a job that also welcomed her.

“If you asked me about five years ago what I wanted to do, I wouldn’t have been able to say. Taking care of the children and having contact with people with such different experiences helped me realize that I was in an abusive relationship. I decided to separate, finish my studies and rewrite the my destiny.”