Government wants university nest egg, says minister

The Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, stated in an interview that the federal government has already started construction for a “Next Egg” for university students. Currently, the program launched this year by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) only covers high school students.

“We are starting to build a nest egg for the university student, a proposal to be discussed with the president. He is already excited. We can identify where the bottlenecks are, the difficulties to ensure that this student can accomplish the your dream of going to university”, said Santana in an interview with the newspaper The Globe.

For public high school students, the program provides for a monthly payment of R$200, which can be withdrawn at any time, in addition to deposits of one thousand reais at the end of each completed year, but these can only be withdrawn from savings accounts. after the conclusion of the academic year. Payments began in March this year.

The deposit of the single installment of R$200, related to the Enrollment Incentive, will occur in a staggered manner, depending on the month of birth of the students. Considering the ten installments, the annual deposits and the additional R$200 for participating in the National High School Exam (Enem), the amounts can reach R$9,200 per student.

Questioning whether the benefit focused on university students will be implemented in 2025, the minister stated that the government is “working towards it”. “This year we are universalizing student assistance for indigenous and quilombola students at federal universities. We have increased federal resources for student assistance by 60%,” he said.

“At PAC, we are guaranteeing a restaurant for all federal institutes. But it’s not just about building the restaurant, it’s about keeping it running. It’s about guaranteeing food for the student, a place where they can stay or pay rent. Here comes Pé -de-Meia of higher education”, he told The Globe.

Santana was also asked about the results of the program in high school. With transfers being made to students for six months, the minister stated that he will only be able to make a concrete assessment of the program’s results at the end of the academic year.

“But the information we have, from some networks, is that student attendance has increased. In many networks, they returned from the program. I have no doubt that it will bring important results,” he said.