Commuting through La Araucanía (Chile). An analysis of the daily mobility practices of university students with access to free education

Abstract

The present paper analyzes commuting by university students in the Araucanía Region who had access to free education in 2016. The study subjects were restricted to students who did not live in Temuco, the capital
of the region, but who studied there and therefore needed to commute from their homes to the city. The requirements to qualify for free education are as follows: the students must belong to the lowest tenth of the population
by socio-economic measures and they must be enrolled in an undergraduate programme requiring personal attendance – day-time or night-school – offered by eligible institutions (Mineduc, 2015). The object of the study was to
analyze the conditions and experiences of the students in their daily commute to the university, considering unnoticed aspects that are not included in the promotion of inclusive educational policies by the introduction of free education. These aspects are supported by the social differences that affect access to higher education based on the requirement for daily mobility.