Exploring the Effects of a Tuition-Free Policy on Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Chile

• In Event: Educational Accessibility and Mobility: Assessing Equity and Outcomes

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to the effects of free tuition policies on higher education institutions, one of the main actors in the policy implementation. Based on Resource Dependence Theory and microeconomic concepts (i.e., supply and demand theory), this study derives hypotheses of institutions’ responses to a free tuition policy. Using administrative data from Chile, a country that implemented a free tuition policy in 2016, and fixed effects models, this study explores whether the policy changes the student body's socioeconomic diversity, as well as admissions and finance outcomes. Findings suggest that institutions do not have enough incentives to absorb the increase in demands that could result in diversifying the student population, undermining one of the Chilean policy goals.

Author

• Paula Clasing-Manquian, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile