Can an intervention increase access to higher education for disadvantaged students? : Quasi-experimental evidence from Peru

Abstract: Heterogeneity in the school education quality plays an important role for those who want to pursue a bachelor's degree in Peru since access to higher education is highly correlated with socioeconomic status. In that sense, an intervention for disadvantaged students took place for the first time in 2022 and was constrained to the assessment of a scholarship called “Beca 18”, the biggest scholarship that the public institution called PRONABEC addresses every year since 2012. The intervention included additional tools for a group of applicants: (i) full-time online classes for 2 to 4 months; (ii) an electronic device with an internet connection; and (iii) the admission exam payment fully covered up to 2 times. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in increasing the likelihood of the treated to access higher education through the 2022 “Beca 18” scholarship process. As the treatment was not randomly assigned, a control group was estimated using the Propensity Score Matching methodology based on individual characteristics. Results showed that there is no statistically significant effect of the intervention in the treated applicants and invite to re-evaluate its design and implementation.