A permanência de estudantes cotistas de renda inferior: o Programa Acolhe UFG (2018-2023)

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to analyze whether the Acolhe UFG Program contributes to the permanence of students admitted through the Unified Selection System (SiSU), in the vacancies destined by the by the Quota Law for students with a gross per capita family income of less than one and a half minimum wage and a half, from 2018/2 to 2023/2, at UFG, on the campuses of Goiânia (campus Colemar Natal e Silva and Samambaia campuses). The research sought to answer the following questions: did the Acolhe UFG Program's assistance immediately after enrolment contributed to staying on the degree course? What were the main challenges to remain in the undergraduate program? How important is student assistance for lower-income students? The time frame established includes 2018 - the year the program was implemented - until 2023 the time limit of the research and because this is the last year with an income cut-off of up to one and a half times the minimum gross family income per capita forper capita for admission as a lower-income quota holder. The research is based on Marx (2013), Netto (2010), Netto and Braz (2006), Lima and Mioto (2007), Ianni (2004), Dias Sobrinho (2010), Maciel (2015, 2016), Mancebo (2015), Sandel (2020), Oliveira (2008), Resende and Miranda (2016). The analysis is based on historical materialism, making it possible to critically analyze the historical and social movement of reality. This is an explanatory field study with a quantitative and qualitative approach, in which the students are the subjects of this study. The data on admission, permanence and completion were collected on the ANALISA UFG platform, directly at the institution, and an online questionnaire was also used to give a voice to the students assisted by the Acolhe UFG Program. The analysis carried out was Bardin's Content Analysis (1977). This research made it possible to identify the socio-economic and academic academic profile of lower-income quota students assisted by the Acolhe UFG Program, who are mostly black women, aged between 18 and 24, with up to half a minimum wage per capita. It was evident that permanence involves not only social, cultural social, cultural, family and economic conditions, but also personal, structural, psychological and pedagogical conditions. In order to stay, the student needs to be included in other throughout their academic career, which are not restricted to student assistance, but they must also involve academic programs that strengthen the link with the university. Three factors condition, were reiterated by the students as challenges to their permanence: the distance between where they live and the university, having to combine study and work, and mental health. The data showed that immediate student assistance programs, such as the Acolhe UFG Program, strongly contribute to the permanence of students with lower income in the first semester of their course. Only 1.7% (24 students) of the 1,455 scholarship holders in the program left the university in the first semester, and 1.2% (17 students) in the following semester. The evaluations presented by the students also indicated that, since it is a temporary program, in order to remain in the program in the long term, students must be given priority in ongoing student assistance programs and scholarships with continuous service.