Centralized Admissions, Affirmative Action, and Access of Low-Income Students to Higher Education

Abstract

I analyze how two reforms, introduced to expand college access in Brazil, impacted enrollments of low-SES students. The first policy centralized applications in a nationwide platform (SISU), and the second expanded affirmative action quotas (AA) to a uniform share of 50 percent of vacancies offered by degree. Results show that SISU changes enrollment decisions of high-SES students, crowding out low-SES groups from the least competitive degrees disproportionately. In contrast, AA increases enrollments of low-SES individuals not only mechanically but also through behavioral responses. Finally, their interaction creates a complementary effect, protecting the low-SES groups from the crowding-out of centralization. (JEL I23, I24, I28, O15)

Who benefits from tuition-free, top-quality universities? Evidence from Brazil

“…Our study also complements the work of Mello (2022) and Otero, Barahona and Dobbin (2021). Both papers show that the AA policy in Brazil expanded the access of historically excluded populations and low-income students to public universities.…”

“…However, most of the growing demand in the four lowest income quintiles was absorbed by private institutions, while most of the growing demand in the top quintile was absorbed by the public ones. 6 According to Mello (2022), the AA policy adopted in the 2010s increased the number of low socioeconomic status students in public universities, but the concurrent introduction of a centralized admission process have offset this impact.…”

“…Both papers show that the AA policy in Brazil expanded the access of historically excluded populations and low-income students to public universities. In particular, Mello (2022) shows that the AA policy has offset a centralized application policy that increased the number of more privileged students in tuition-free institutions. On the other hand, Otero, Barahona and Dobbin (2021) conclude that the AA policy had negligible effects on students' income.…”

Double disadvantage: institutional structure and compensatory advantages in Brazilian higher education

“…In the public sector, compensatory advantages have an inverted sign in lower magnitude (-8.89%), corroborating that public universities tend to play a redistributive role in educational opportunities, possibly due to factors such as: the beneficial impact of affirmative action policies on low-income students, the preference of richer students for private institutions depending on the course, etc. (Machado & Szerman, 2021;Vieira & Arends-Kuenning, 2019;Mello, 2022).…”

Income-Based Affirmative Action in College Admissions

“…Estevan, Gall, and Morin (2022) study the affirmative action policy adopted by a large Brazilian university and find little evidence of behavioural reactions regarding examination preparation effort. Mello (2022) studies the interaction between the National Law of Quotas and a policy that centralized applications in a nationwide online platform. We contribute by providing a complementary quantitative framework to interpret the long-term effects of income-based affirmative action policies.…”