Poverty, University Permanence and Student Support: a psychosocial analysis

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the psychosocial implications of poverty for the permanence of university students regarding student welfare policies. With a qualitative approach, it investigated eight poor students from various courses at two public Brazilian universities. For the material dimension, we emphasize the lack of resources for subsistence, distant housing or displacement from the place of origin, need to work, and lack of access to books and equipment. In these aspects, assistance is indispensable, although insufficient for those who demand it. In the subjective dimension, social integration in the academic world emerges, with emphasis on the socioeconomic factor as a marker of boundaries between groups. The pedagogical aspects reveal the gap in basic education and mastery of the foreign language, lack of time and study setting. It can be concluded that the complexity of the issues presented requires an intersectoral restructuring of universities.