O financiamento da assistência estudantil na UNIFAP: execução e distribuição orçamentária dos recursos do PNAES (2018–2024)

Abstract

This dissertation is justified by its academic relevance, seeking to contribute to the debate on social justice, public funding, and equity in higher education. By focusing on the Amazonian context, the study highlights the limits and potential of student aid as a retention policy, emphasizing the importance of strengthening it in the face of regional inequalities. The research analyzes the financing of student assistance at the Federal University of Amapá (UNIFAP), focusing on the application and distribution of budgetary resources allocated to student aid for in-person undergraduate programs between 2018 and 2024. It begins with the observation that the expansion of public higher education in peripheral regions occurs under fiscal constraints that compromise the effectiveness of retention policies. The method is guided by historical-dialectical materialism, supported by Content Analysis (Bardin, 2016) of a study analyzing institutional documents and budgetary data. It addresses the contradictions of higher education policy in Brazil, highlighting the tension between the right to education and the commodification of the sector, influenced by international organizations and reinforced by reforms such as Reuni and austerity measures. The analysis of budget execution demonstrates a proportionally higher concentration of resources in programs with longer course loads and in contexts of greater socioeconomic vulnerability, such as Rural Education.Undergraduate programs with high course loads and intense academic demands, such as Medicine, Nursing, and Physiotherapy, also stand out in the allocation of resources. In the case of Medicine, there is a significantly higher demand for housing assistance, coupled with the significant presence of students from other states. Additionally, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a temporary reconfiguration in the allocation of aid, with an emphasis on emergency and digital benefits, later replaced by the resumption of traditional structural aid.