Tuition adjustments leave students with no option

The recent readjustments of higher education tuition may leave several students out of college, as they are unable to pay, according to a study carried out by Quero Educação. The survey shows that while future students are looking for monthly fees of around R$500, the average charged by institutions is R$722.

This means that 68% of those who are looking for higher education cannot find viable options.

The survey was carried out based on searches carried out on the Quero Bolsa platform, one of the branches of Quero Educação. Through the platform, students can obtain scholarships from 5% to 80% off at private institutions. Today, the scholarships offered cover, according to Quero, 10% of college enrollments. More than 1,300 institutions offer scholarships through the platform.

According to Quero Educação, at the beginning of this year, the largest institutions in the market charged an average monthly fee of R$530 on the platform, while students sought courses with an average price of R$526. drop in purchasing power, students began to seek in-person graduations with an average price of BRL 495, while the average value of tuition offered on the platform was raised to BRL 722, representing an increase of 45% in relation to the range sought by students. students.

If before the institutions served 63% of students seeking vacancies, now that percentage has dropped to 32%.

“There was no increase in the students’ purchasing power, they cannot pay that price. That’s what we’ve been warning about. A lot of people are getting out. And the fact is that institutions will not be able to fill their rooms”

warns the director of Quero Educação, Marcelo Lima.

For Lima, tuition discounts and scholarships are more advantageous than financing, as they can guarantee students’ training without them becoming indebted when they leave university.

“It is a great opportunity for colleges that want to work in this market at a more affordable price for students. It is an opportunity for them to fill their rooms, because it is much better to have a room full of students paying BRL 500 than having a room half full, managing to attract those students who are willing to pay BRL 720”

he declared.

Necessary readjustments

Entities representing higher education recognize the difficulty of students in paying tuition, but emphasize that readjustments are necessary, since many of the institutions, during the pandemic, did not increase tuition. “The price is formed based on the cost. There was, due to inflation, a real increase in costs at universities, an increase in electricity, rent, salary correction”, argues the CEO of the Brazilian Association of Higher Education Supporters (ABMES), Celso Niskier. According to him, about half of the vacancies offered by the institutions are not filled.

According to Semesp’s executive director, who also represents higher education providers in Brazil, Rodrigo Capelato, around 30% to 35% of students currently have some kind of discount or scholarship.

“In 2023, there was a slight recovery in the sector, but always with a lot of discount, having to adjust values ​​because purchasing power is still very low and families are very indebted”

he said.

Capelato points out that it is not possible to offer discounts to all students. “The average monthly fee is R$800 to R$1,500. Otherwise, we don’t pay the costs, especially in face-to-face teaching”.

Both defend the Student Financing Fund (Fies) as a way to keep students and ensure training, since even with scholarships, they are unable to pay until the end of the course. Currently, the private sector accounts for 77% of Brazilian higher education enrollments, according to the latest Census of Higher Education. “We need a way to get in via the private sector, otherwise we won’t be able to provide coverage. And the best way is to expand student financing”defends Capelato.

“People who seek higher education lack student funding, a new Fies even to resume the social character we defend, as it was from the beginning. In Brazil, if you don’t have funding of this nature, there will be more people needing to take higher education and not getting it”

defends Niskier.

Quality

For students, it is important that the education offered is of good quality, which often has not occurred, according to the Communication coordinator of the National Union of Students (Une), Manuella Silva.

“At this moment, in addition to ensuring that students have access to higher education, we need to guarantee the quality of higher education. What we see is profit over quality”

he said.

According to Manuella, UNE receives complaints from students who end up having classes recorded many years ago, which are outdated, that they don’t have laboratories for practices, among other complaints.

About the readjustments, the student points out that the increases are falling not only for students who are entering the university, but for those who are already enrolled and who end up not being able to continue studying.

According to Manuella, UNE defends, in addition to a Fies that can ensure that students complete their courses, a job guarantee, so that they can, as soon as they graduate, pay off their debts with the program.

“We defend Fies, but we defend that it manages to guarantee full employment, so that students can have access to the job market. The Fies is important to guarantee admission to the university, but it is a Fies that students are able to enter, stay and complete a course with quality, that they do not leave it half done”

defends.

faithful

Currently, Fies is being discussed in a working group created by the Ministry of Education. Discussions, in theory, end in September. Ordinance 390, which made the working group official, was published in the Official Gazette (DOU) on March 8, with the aim of promoting technical studies related to the Fund, such as diagnoses on the current situation of the Fies, the reassessment of the funding limit and the reduction of bureaucracy in the program.

Created in 1999, Fies offers financing to low-income students at private educational institutions at more favorable conditions than those of the market. The program, which signed more than 732,000 contracts in 2014, has since 2015 undergone a series of changes and downsizing. In 2019, there were around 67,000 students entering higher education through Fies.

One of the main reasons for the changes in the Fies rules, according to previous administrations by the Ministry of Education, was the high default rate, that is, students who take out financing and do not settle their debts after graduation. The percentage of defaults recorded by the program reached more than 40%, according to data from the ministry, from 2018.

*With information from Agência Brasil

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