The Problem With Pre-Vestibular Loans

Yesterday I had a chance to ask Afro-Brazilian students from the University of Bahia how they prepared for the vestibular and how they supported themselves while they studied. The students all told me that they took a free pre-vestibular course. Just like the students at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, these students told me that they had to work to support themselves while they studied. Some students taught pre-vestibular courses so their jobs complemented their vestibular preparation, but the majority of students worked in low paying jobs that did not help them prepare for the exam. Almost all agreed that having to work reduced the time and energy they had to study and prevented them from attaining their best vestibular score.

To me, the answer to such a problem seemed simple: the students should borrow money to prepare for the exam and then pay the creditor after graduating university. The loan would free students from work and give students time and energy to prepare for the exam. Ideally, students would attain higher scores, enter prestigious professions and pay off this debt with their large salaries.

When I pitched this idea to the students, however, all of them told me that they would not want to take a loan to study for the vestibular. The students explained that they would not want to take the loan because it is hard to pass the vestibular exam, and there is no guarantee that they would pass the exam simply because they decided to study for and take the exam. If they did not pass the exam, then they would be in a worse position than they were in before because they would have to pay back a loan with the low salary from a high school level job. Furthermore, they explained, even if they felt confident that they could pass the vestibular, they would still be reluctant to take a loan because the chances of attaining a good job after university graduation are slim. As before, they do not want to have to pay back a loan with a low paying job.

The students responses lead me to believe that there are large structural differences between Brazil and the U.S that make Brazilian students much less eager to take education loans than American students. The fact that these structural differences prevent Afro-Brazilian students from taking loans and attaining the same amount of time, energy and resources to study for the vestibular as their white classmates reinforces the need for race-based affirmative action programs in universities. It is only through these programs that universities can level the playing field for Afro-Brazilian students and account for the disadvantages Afro-Brazilian students currently face.