Higher education is considered a human capital investment with high private and social returns (Bloom et al., 2007; Santelices et al., 2013; Toutkoushian & Paulsen, 2016). This gain incentivizes individuals to invest in higher education, assume private costs, and support public policies that encourage pursuing an undergraduate degree. Chile has one of the most significant earnings rates for tertiary-educated adults, and it sharply increases with the level of education (OECD, 2019). These factors may explain the explosive expansion of tertiary educational coverage in Chile over the past 40 years.

Figure 1
Combining Multiple Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors (PSFs) and Traditional Predictors to Predict Retention

The key factors contributing to this growth were, on the one hand, the creation and diversification of higher education institutions and, on the other hand, the introduction of a government loan system for low-income students (Brunner, 2015; Santelices et al., 2013). In 2017, 33% of 19-20 year-olds were enrolled in tertiary education in Chile, compared to 30% on average across OECD countries (OECD, 2019). This new scenario of universal coverage has implied access to the tertiary education of sectors of the population previously excluded, which has led to a diversification of the social composition of the matrix of higher education students in Chile. Although higher education enrollment rates have increased for each socio-economic group during the last decades, critical differences in equity of access to higher education persist today according to socio-economic groups (Espinoza & González, 2015; Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, 2018; Paredes, 2015; Santelices et al., 2018).

Figure 2
Evolution of higher education net rate in Chile by quintile (1996 – 2017)

Several Government and institutional policies have emerged in recent years to better address inequity and segregation in Higher Education access, performance, and permanence. From a funding point of view, on the one hand, the State and Institutions provide a comprehensive system of student scholarships and loans (Intelis & Verde, 2012; Santelices et al., 2018). Starting in 2016, free tuition for tertiary studies was introduced for 60% of lower-income students (MINEDUC, 2018). From the admission point of view, on the other hand, Institutions have implemented several pioneering programs that use alternative criteria to standardized tests for admission to tertiary education (Santelices et al., 2018).

Despite these advances on equity in access to tertiary education in Chile, higher rates of coverage and democratization in access to post-secondary education do not guarantee the success of public policies aimed at retaining students coming from the most vulnerable segments of the population (Donoso et al., 2013; Espinoza & González, 2015; E. Fernández, 2015; Santelices et al., 2018). One of the most critical problems in the current scenario of universal and socio-economically diversified access to Higher Education in Chile is the fact that a significant proportion of students who access tertiary education do not complete their undergraduate programs (M. Barrios, 2011; Donoso et al., 2013; Santelices et al., 2013; SIES, 2019). According to the Servicio de Información de Educación Superior data, in 2019, the dropout rate among first-year undergraduate students in Chile averaged 24.4% (SIES, 2021). College dropout has severe economic and human implications for students (González et al., 2005; Gore, 2010; Navarrete et al., 2013; OECD, 2019; Scheele, 2015; SIES, 2014; Yorke & Longden, 2004), the State (Barrios, 2011), and Higher Education institutions (Donoso et al., 2013; Espinoza & González, 2015).

Figure 3
Evolution of college dropout rates in Chile (2008 – 2022)