¿Por qué es tan cara la universidad en Chile?

The life of Constance, at the moment, is marked by a debt that will bring you more than one decade to pay.

This young student of anthropology, at 23 years old, should be about $20,000 to study most of his college career. And if you finish take the courses, and should any fees, you can not graduating.

The story of Constance - which you can see in the video that accompanies this note - is an example of what lives much more than 900 thousand University students in this country.

Chile is the country with the most expensive higher education in the world according to the Organization for economic co-operation and development, and the only one in Latin America where all the universities are pay, a situation that many students perceive as unfair.

"The idea is to change the system of financing (for higher education) because it is very burdensome for students and families"

Harald Beyer, Minister of education of Chile

For this reason, the movement agglomerated in the Confederation of student centres of Chile (Confech) has since last year protesting in the streets of the country. And on Wednesday resume demonstrations.

Chilean universities free disappeared in the 1980s during the Augusto Pinochet military.

Since then the number of students in higher education increased fivefold.

This increase was accompanied by a growth (albeit with high levels of inequality), but currently, the demand for young people that want to enter the universities is unprecedented.

But the costs are huge. Why?

BBC World reviewed the prices of the career of journalism in different private universities in Latin America, to plot the cost by country of a career.

University Catholic of Argentina: US$ 4980.Universidad Catholic Chile: US$ 8,400 Universidad Pontificia Colombia Javeriana: US$ 4,300. Universidad La Salle, in Mexico: US$ 8200 Universidad Católica de Peru: US$ 3760 (depending on number of credits registered). Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, of Venezuela: US$ 3,200 (at official exchange rate).

Source: each University web pages

"In recent decades increased much higher education costs because the willingness to pay is very high." "The universities received this and why fixing the prices at its discretion", said to BBC World Claudia Sanhueza, Professor of the Institute of public policies, Universidad Diego Portales.

For his part, the Minister of education of Chile, Harald Beyer, told BBC World, that is due to a mix of factors: the lack of investment in higher education, the concentration of efforts of public funds in other areas as pre-school and school and the growth and demographic development of the young population.

A report published by the World Bank and the OECD - a body which brings together the world's richest nations - in 2009 as a whole shows that the average annual price of college tuition is US$ 3,400.

While in United States or Australia, for example, the tuition may amount to tens of thousands of dollars, when comparing the Chilean average purchasing power looms that US$ 3,400 are equal to 22% of the gross domestic product per capita.

And there is no other country in the world where higher education is so expensive.

"Most expensive races triple these costs, which is unacceptable for a country like Chile", he told BBC World Manuel Riesco, of the Centre for national studies of alternative development, in Santiago.

Riesco took statistics from the Ministry of education of the 2010 and the official household survey and found that the average cost of universities is now above the annual$ 4,000. This figure is comparable to the average monthly income of Chilean families of greater purchasing power.

"The others family not to mention", asserted Riesco.

According to their calculations, based on official numbers, Chilean family of lower income perceives a monthly average of US$ 275, which is why should devote almost 20 months of salary for one year at University of one of the members of the family group.

The Chilean State, according to the OECD, aid to 13.8% of students with scholarships, which is quite below the average for the countries that integrate said block, where even United States with a recognized expensive tuition (although less than Chile in relation to purchasing power), contributes 51%.

That is why credit became one of the main roads of students to study a university career.

In Chile, again with the OECD data, the State assumes 18% of the full tuition while families assume the cost of the remaining 82%, a rate that exceeds any other country of the world.

Riesco stated that there are 455,000 students who have received the so-called credit with endorsement of the State (CAE), a financing where the Government acts as guarantor for those with academic merit.

The total of these loans adds about $2,200 million and leaves an average of US$ 4,900 student debt.

"These appropriations have been made mostly by more modest families and the average amount is little less than 18 months of income of a family of the poorest quintile (of lower income)," says Riesco.

After more than one year of student demonstrations, the Government of President Sebastian Piñera recently announced a series of reforms to try to address what the own government officials recognize as "uneven".

"The idea is to change the system of financing (for higher education) because it is very burdensome for students and families," said Beyer to BBC world.

Proposal designed from the firm of Beyer, received this week by Congress, down from 2013 the appropriations from 6% to 2% annual interest, limits the maximum amount of monthly payment up to 10% of the income of the debtor and after 180 monthly condone the debt.

To this end, the State would intervene directly in financing and takes the role of lender banks.

"It is a radical change with the system which had, which had fixed fees and rates of 6 per cent per annum." "It was very burdensome," said Beyer.

The cost of education has given rise to numerous protests by Chilean students.

"For this exclude 10% richest population because this is a loan subsidized and given the distribution of income (Chile) where 10% of the population is 39 per cent of the national income, give also a subsidized credit was not fair", he added.

The Government also introduced a project to the legislature so that the new criteria will apply to existing debts between students and the banking sector, where the State would assume the differences.

To finance these and other reforms in education, the Government seeks to change the tax system of Chile, with a proposal which would generate US$ 1 billion to the Treasury.

"Our commitment is to allocate everything to education," said Beyer.

In addition to change the system of financing is intended to increase the number of scholarships to quadruple by 2014 more than 100,000 financial aid currently given to university students per year.

"Perhaps (student) demonstrations ahead of this process, but these ideas were part of the Government of President Piñera program," says the owner of education.

"But there are certain things that have raised (the students) that the Government has not hosted and isn't on his agenda welcome, because they are not going in the direction of greater quality and equity, in particular free", added.

And this is the point of main disagreement for the University political leadership. Some recognize that the reforms are a step forward, but demand the establishment of free university education.

This is one of the main reasons why marches back to the country.

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