Fies will be depleted after the impeachment vote.
The interim government intends to change the selection criteria for students eligible for student loan funding from the Student Financing Fund (Fies) to pursue higher education in the country; the changes, which will begin to be announced after the impeachment vote in the Senate, will effectively weaken the program.
247 The interim government of Michel Temer intends to make changes to the selection criteria for students who are entitled to credit from the Student Financing Fund (Fies) to pursue higher education in the country.
Information published in the Painel column this Sunday, the 17th, says that the changes, which will begin to be announced after the impeachment vote in the Senate, will, in practice, amount to the weakening of the program.
The proposal, currently under review by the Ministry of Education, foresees even greater restrictions on federal spending on FIES (Student Financing Fund). Furthermore, it stipulates that the federal government will only subsidize the training of professionals considered to be in short supply in the market or in strategic sectors. Teacher retraining should also be prioritized.
The assessment of the interim managers at the Ministry of Education is that FIES (Student Financing Fund) has grown uncontrollably and has become a Frankenstein's monster. FIES, which will cost R$ 19 billion this year, is responsible for more than 30% of enrollments in private higher education in the country. More than 2,2 million people have already managed to attend college in Brazil through FIES.
Last Friday (15), the interim Minister of Education, Mendonça Filho, announced that the expenses of Fies that were directly covered by the government would now be covered by the educational institutions. According to the Provisional Measure issued by the interim president, this remuneration will be monthly and will correspond to 2% of the value of the educational charges released to the companies.
Mendonça Filho assured that the change would represent savings of R$ 400 million and that the burdens assumed by private educational institutions would not be passed on to students in increased tuition fees. However, higher education institutions have already reacted and claim that the new rules may impact tuition fee adjustments for 2017.
The entities argue that the measure will bring more burdens to the colleges, which already offer a mandatory 5% discount to FIES students and allocate 6,25% of tuition fees to a fund that guarantees educational credit. "This becomes a cost. It's another impact that could lead to a tuition fee adjustment next year," says José Roberto Covac, legal director of Semesp (Union of Higher Education Institutions of São Paulo).
The interim minister also cut 90 places in the second semester edition of FIES (Student Financing Fund). The administration of former Education Minister Aloizio Mercadante had planned for 165 places for FIES in the second semester of 2016 (115 unfilled in the first semester + 50 remaining places from the program's equilibrium number). Mendonça Filho opted to begin the downsizing of FIES immediately and only opened 75 places.
Due to political choices, Pronatec, another priority program in Dilma's government, is also paralyzed by the interim administration. The agreement with the S system, which would allow the creation of 1,4 million places, was not signed, and the opening of registrations scheduled for May 15th was canceled.
Pronatec is carried out in partnership with Sistema S, Federal Institutes, and state and municipal networks. Between 2011 and 2015, there were 9,4 million enrollments.