Access and desertion in universities. Financing alternatives

Abstract

At present, the dynamics of accessing to the universities in Ecuador is growing. From the implementation of the Organic Law of Higher Education, changes were introduced to favor this process and influence the increase of quality; nevertheless, barriers continue to exist. The purpose of this article is to analyze the causes that hinder access and cause desertion and financing alternatives, which could contribute to mitigate these. The deduction induction method was mainly used, collecting information from primary and secondary sources; for this, a sample was selected based on the student population of the universities located in Cuenca, (6854). The size was 364 and the technical questionnaire was applied to 383 students. Information was complemented with interviews and documentary reviews. As main results the causes that originate the problem are validated, these are the high costs of tuition and the loss of materials, which are identified ways to decrease the dropout. It is evident that these are few and a little diverse, which is aggravated by the ignorance of the students about the benefits offered by these institutions; in response to this, a proposal to establish policies linked to the increase of these alternatives and improve the communication process between the various institutions that offer financial services and/or scholarships to students is given.