Overview
- The Ministry of Education has circulated a 92-page draft regulation that would change how students access and keep PRONABEC scholarships, including new academic, enrollment and conduct rules.
- Under the proposal, failing a single course could become cause for losing a scholarship and students would be required to enroll in exact credit loads set by their curriculum, which would limit flexibility to delay or advance classes or change majors.
- Article 28 would require beneficiaries to maintain a ‘respectful and adequate’ treatment of PRONABEC staff, a broadly worded rule that students say could be applied subjectively to sanction complaints or protests.
- A recent budget decision that left 150 Generación Bicentenario scholarships without financing has already cost admitted students tangible opportunities, including at least one reported loss of an Oxford placement; beneficiaries and a former PRONABEC director are demanding a review and a participatory dialogue.
- PRONABEC funds programs such as Beca 18, Beca Permanencia and Beca Hijos de Docentes that pay tuition and living costs for low-income students, and critics warn that removing support after the state has already invested in a student wastes resources and raises dropout risk.