How Free Tuition Became a Policy in Chile: The Importance of Stakeholders and Their Beliefs

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Policy, Tuition, and Matters of Higher Education Finance (Table 11)

Abstract

During the last decade, there has been a revival of free-tuition policies around the world. Little is known about the formation of these policies and the political dynamics behind their design. Chile implemented a free-tuition policy in 2016 and offers a case study to understand those dynamics. Based on the advocacy coalition framework and using discourse network analysis of newspaper articles and verbatim transcriptions of the discussion in Congress, this paper focuses on identifying the main actors involved in the policy discussion, the coalitions they formed, and their main belief about free college in Chile. Results highlight the importance of gaining support from main stakeholders and including beliefs of coalitions in favor and against such policies to implement them.

Author

• Paula Clasing-Manquian, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile