Factors related to secondary school students’ expectations of completing university studies in Argentina and Chile

This paper uses micro-data from the PISA 2022 Assessment Programme to study the factors related to secondary school students’ expectations of completing university studies in Argentina and Chile. We estimate a logistic regression model on the probability of having expectations of completing university studies in each country. The results show that, despite the differences between the two higher educational systems, factors such as gender, the socioeconomic level of the student, their parents’ education, his/her educational attainment, and the type of school attended (public or private) influence, in the same direction, youths‘ expectations regarding university studies. However, there are significant differences in the magnitude of the effects of some variables in the countries analysed. In particular, the expectations of middle and high-class students compared to those from lower class are higher in Argentina than in Chile. The results could be a consequence, on the one hand, that lower-income secondary school students in Argentina have reduced chances of graduation than lower-income secondary school students in Chile. On the other hand, despite the access and financial barriers present in Chilean higher education, the chances of graduation are greater than in Argentina. Note that while access to public higher education is open and tuition-free in Argentina, in Chile, a free tuition policy has been introduced for lower-income groups, and some private sector institutions have lower barriers to entry than the most selective group of public and private institutions.