Removing barriers to higher education in Chile: evaluation of peer effects and scholarships for test preparation

This study by Banerjee, Duflo and Gallego evaluated the impact of providing scholarships to secondary school students from low- and middle-income households to help them attend high-quality training institutions to prepare for standardized entrance tests for college admission in Chile. The impact assessment was conducted over two years. In the first year, they found non-significant impact on the test scores and higher education entry. However, in the second year, there was significant impact recorded among students from low-performing schools. There were several school days lost due to student protests during this year. The study showed that the scholarships helped students use the training to substitute for preparation in school. It also found that the opportunities that high school students received affected their attitudes and opinions on increasing or decreasing public expenditure to subsidised higher education in Chile.