Persistence, retention, and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students in a context of emergency remote learning


Journal website: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/   Manuscript received: 23/11/2023 
Facebook: /EPAAA  Revisions received: 10/6/2024 
Twitter: @epaa_aape  Accepted: 9/7/2024 

 

education policy analysis 
archives 
A peer-reviewed, independent,  
open access, multilingual journal  
 
 
 
 
 
  

 Arizona State University 

 
Volume 32 Number 48       August 27, 2024 ISSN 1068-2341 

 
 

Persistence, Retention, and Interruption in Higher  
Education among Peruvian Scholarship Students in a 

Context of Emergency Remote Learning 

Robin Cavagnoud  

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú 

Perú 

&  
Patricia Ames 

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú 

Perú 

 
Citation: Cavagnoud, R., & Ames, P. (2024). Persistence, retention, and interruption in higher 
education among Peruvian scholarship students in a context of emergency remote learning. 
Education Policy Analysis Archives, 32(48). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.32.8476 
 
Abstract: In Latin America, higher education inequality disproportionately affects 
individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and Peru is no exception. Since 2012, the 
National Scholarship and Student Loan Programme (PRONABEC) has disbursed grants, 
aiming to enhance access to higher education for impoverished Peruvian young people. 
However, the unprecedented global health crisis in 2020 significantly affected the university 
experiences of scholarship recipients, introducing new challenges to their experience of 
higher education. This study, conducted in 2021, explores the factors i nfluencing the 
persistence, retention and interruption of university studies among scholarship recipients. 
This qualitative, biographical study, based on the ecological model of higher education, 
involved 60 current and former scholarship students from public and private universities in 
three regions. Findings reveal that scholarships played a financial crucial role in supporting 
educational goals and institutional supports were pivotal in maintaining student retention. 
While personal motivation and family support contributed to student persistence overall, 
certain scholarship recipients faced challenges related to work and family demands.   
 

http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/
https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.32.8476


Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. 48  2 

 

  

Keywords: higher education; scholarship programmes; persistence; retention; interruption 
 
Persistencia, retención, e interrupción en educación superior entre estudiantes 
becarios peruanos en un contexto de educación remota de emergencia  
Resumen: En América Latina, la desigualdad en el acceso a la educación superior  
afecta desproporcionalmente a los individuos de baja condición socioeconómica y el Perú no 
es una excepción. Desde 2012 el Programa Nacional de Becas y Crédito Educativo, 
(PRONABEC) ofrece becas con el objetivo de generar un acceso igualitario a la educación 
superior para los jóvenes peruanos de bajos recursos. Sin embargo la crisis global en salud 
del 2020 afectó significativamente la experiencia universitaria de los becarios de una manera 
sin precedentes, introduciendo nuevos desafíos para su persistencia en la educación superior. 
Este estudio, desarrollado en el 2021, explora los factores que influenciaron tanto en la 
persistencia y la retención como en la interrupción de los estudios universitarios entre los 
becarios. El estudio cualitativo y biográfico, basado en el modelo ecológico de análisis de la 
educación superior, involucró a 60 estudiantes becarios y exbecarios de universidades 
públicas y privadas en tres regiones. Los resultados revelan que la beca jugó un papel 
financiero crucial en apoyar las metas educativas y que los apoyos institucionales fueron 
fundamentales para mantener la retención estudiantil. Aunque la motivación personal y el 
apoyo familiar contribuyeron a la persistencia, algunos becarios enfrentaron desafíos 
relacionados a las demandas familiares y laborales. 
Palabras-clave: educación superior; programas de becas; persistencia; retención; 
interrupción 
 
Persistência, retenção, e interrupção no ensino superior entre bolsistas peruanos em 
contexto emergencial de ensino remoto  
Resumo: Na América Latina, a desigualdade no acesso ao ensino superior afeta de forma 
desproporcionada as pessoas de baixa condição socioeconômica e o Peru não é exceção. Desde 
2012, o Programa Nacional de Bolsas e Crédito Educacional (PRONABEC) oferece bolsas de 
estudo com o objetivo de gerar um acesso igualitário à educação superior para jovens peruanos 
de baixos recursos. No entanto, a crise global de saúde em 2020 atingiu significativamente a 
experiência universitária dos bolsistas de uma forma sem precedentes, e desencadeou novos 
desafios para sua permanência no ensino superior. Este estudo, desenvolvido em 2021, explora 
os fatores que influenciaram na persistência, a retenção e a interrupção dos estudos 
universitários entre os bolsistas. O estudo qualitativo e biográfico, baseado no modelo ecológico 
de análise do ensino superior, envolveu 60 estudantes bolsistas e ex-bolsistas vindos de 
universidades públicas e privadas em três regiões. Os resultados revelam que a bolsa de estudos 
teve um papel financeiro crucial nos projetos educativos e apoios institucionais foram 
fundamentais para manter a retenção estudante. Embora a motivação pessoal e o apoio familiar 
contribuíram para a persistência, certos bolsistas enfrentaram desafios relacionados as exigências 
das famílias e trabalho. 
Palavras-chave: ensino superior; programas de bolsas; persistência; retenção; interrupção  
 

  



 Persistence, retention, and interruption among Peruvian scholarship students 3 

 

 

Persistence, Retention, and Interruption in Higher  
Education among Peruvian Scholarship Students in a Context of Emergency 

Remote Learning 
 

Investing public funds in scholarships for low-income youth to access higher education 
(HE) has expanded in the global south in recent years (Pires et al., 2020). This study aims to 
understand the factors influencing persistence, retention, and interruption among scholarship 
holders in Peru, a South American country with a segregated educational context (Benavides et 
al., 2015). This inquiry is set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the 
emergency implementation of remote learning in HE for at least two academic years in Peru 
(March 2020 to March 2022).1 

In Peru, as in the whole of Latin America, HE is offered through both private and public 
institutions. Public universities receive government funding to cover faculty salaries, 
infrastructure development, and research activities. Public universities are free, in contrast to 
private universities, which charge tuition fees. There is no national examination; each university 
has its own entrance exam. Public universities tend to be more selective than private ones, with a 
selectivity rating of 6 for public universities compared to 1.5 and 1.25 for non-profit private 
universities and for-profit private universities, respectively2 (Superintendencia Nacional de 
Educación Superior, 2021). Many students from low socioeconomic backgrounds cannot afford 
preparation courses for entrance exams, tuition at private universities, or, if admitted to public 
universities, even the costs of living. Only 21.8% of young people from the lowest 
socioeconomic quintile have access to HE, compared to 59.7% from the highest quintile 
(Ministerio de Educación 2020). Inequality of access to universities for low-income students is a 
common phenomenon in Latin America. They face barriers due to limited financial aid, unequal 
academic readiness, and socioeconomic disparities (Ferreira et al., 2013; Ferreyra et al., 2017). 

In Peru, both public and private universities offer (limited) financial aid programs. 
However, in 2012 the government launched the National Scholarship and Student Loan 
Programme (Programa Nacional de Becas y Crédito Educativo, PRONABEC), devoting public 
funds on an unprecedented scale to scholarships for low-income youth to study at public and 
private universities and institutes throughout the country. This policy seeks to improve social 
inclusion and diversity in higher education (Rodríguez González, 2020), as stated in 
PRONABEC’s mission statement: “We work to achieve a more equitable society, promoting 
access, permanence and completion of quality higher education for talented people with limited 
economic resources”.3  

Beca 18 was the first scholarship programme created with public funds that aimed to ease 
access to HE for young people living in poverty or extreme poverty. Beca 18 offered a 
comprehensive scholarship that covered the costs of tuition and living, a laptop computer, and a 
remedial academic programme (Ames, 2020b). The main eligibility requirements were proof of 
living in poverty4, certification of a high grade-point average upon completion of high school, a 
national examination to qualify for the scholarship, and admission to an eligible university degree 
programme. Between 2012 and 2021, 76,573 students benefited from the Beca 18 programme5. 
Although Beca 18 is targeted at students at both public and private universities, the 

                                                           
1 This work was supported by the Office of Research Management at Pontificia Universidad Católica del 
Perú (PUCP). 
2 This means that for each student admitted in public universities there were six applicants, whilst in 
private universities there were 1.5 or 1.25 applicants for each admitted student. 
3 https://www.gob.pe/institucion/pronabec/institucional 
4 This is done through the Household Targeting System administered by the Ministry of Development and 
Social Inclusion, which classifies households into three socioeconomic categories: non-poor, poor, and 
extremely poor. 
5 The data on the number of scholarships and dropout rates was provided by PRONABEC in 2021. 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. 48  4 

 

  

disproportionate numbers of scholarship holders attending the latter prompted calls for a 
scholarship targeted at students attending public universities (Ames, 2020a). In 2016 the Beca 
Permanencia was created to provide financial assistance to public university students with high 
attainment levels in the third or subsequent semester of their degree programmes, to provide 
them with “the means to devote themselves solely to their education without the need to work to 
support themselves or cover their household costs.”6 This grant, awarded to 30,426 low-income 
students between 2016 and 2021, is intended to help recipients meet the costs of food and 
transport, and overcome other potential economic barriers to continuing and completing their 
studies.7  

Prior research on scholarship programmes in Peru has highlighted challenges faced by 
scholarship-holders such as adapting to university life, bridging knowledge gaps compared to 
peers from higher-quality schools, navigating unfamiliar urban environments, and living 
independently (Cotler, 2016). Anaya and León (2015) observed that scholarship holders in Lima 
encounter an urban culture marked by competition, individualism, and limited peer support, 
which often hinders their social integration and can lead to discrimination at university. 

In contrast, studies on scholarship programmes elsewhere in Latin America, such as 
Colombia, show significant positive effects on access to HE for low-income youth. These 
students have lower dropout rates and form social networks similar to their peers, which 
supports their integration despite mixed feelings of shame, pride, and anxiety about attainment 
and meeting expectations on the part of scholarship holders (Álvarez Rivadulla, 2019; Álvarez-
Rivadulla et al., 2022). However, in Peru, there is a notable distance between scholarship and 
non-scholarship students, particularly in private universities (Ames, 2020b). 

Although access to HE is an important goal in a segregated educational market, we are 
concerned with the retention and persistence of these students throughout HE until completion. 
This concern needs to be placed in the context of a major health crisis that affected HE globally. 
The COVID-19 pandemic, starting in March 2020, forced a shift to remote learning in Peru, 
significantly affecting scholarship holders’ lives, responsibilities, and personal projects 
(Bustamante, 2020). From March 2020 to March 2022, the Peruvian HE system relied on remote 
education. Given these unprecedented circumstances, this study aims to analyse the factors 
explaining the persistence, retention, and interruption of HE among Peruvian students who are 
(or were) beneficiaries of a scholarship programme during the public health crisis. Through a 
qualitative biographical study, we explore the ways in which PRONABEC’s scholarship 
programmes supported students during the crisis and, conversely, the extent to which the crisis 
disrupted HE and forced the withdrawal of scholarships. 

First, following Mendoza et al. (2016), we review the theoretical and empirical literature 
on university students’ retention in different contexts of study and place them within an 
ecological model of student retention in higher education. Next, we present our methodological 
design, which features a sample of scholarship students attending universities in three regions of 
Peru and uses the Ageven form, an analytical tool aligned with the ecological model. The results 
are presented in three sections, corresponding to different layers of the ecological model and 
focusing on the impact of the pandemic, the factors that promoted retention, and those that 
interrupted students’ higher educational careers. Finally, we discuss our findings on the key 
reasons for student retention or interruption at university in Peru during the pandemic, and the 

                                                           
6 Source: https://www.PRONABEC.gob.pe/noticias/inscripciones-a-concurso-por-beca-permanencia-
inician-este-27-de-junio/ 
7 PRONABEC manages and provides funding also for other scholarships schemes: Pacífico Alliance 
(studies and research in Chile, Colombia and Mexico), Bicentennial Generation (postgraduate studies); 
Children of Teachers (directed to public teachers’ sons and daughters); Inclusion (for persons with 
disabilities); Short term courses for victims of political violence or for indigenous peoples of the Amazon. 
It also manages scholarships offered and funded by other, private institutions (Beca Perú) or by other 
governments (International cooperation). PRONABEC also offer student loans. 



 Persistence, retention, and interruption among Peruvian scholarship students 5 

 

 

role that scholarships played in mitigating or overcoming the hardships experienced by these 
students. 

Theoretical and Empirical Background 

The creation of scholarship programs in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic aimed 
to facilitate access to HE for vulnerable populations, such as those in poverty. Our theoretical 
and empirical review is aimed at understanding what factors are at play for both retention and 
interruption in HE. 

Higher Education Retention and Interruption within an Ecological Framework 

 There are numerous studies on retention and dropout of students in HE, mainly in 
the global north. The work of Tinto (1975, 1993) took a pioneering and influential theoretical 
approach that has been reworked and reframed over time in different contexts (de la Garza-
Carranza et al., 2013; Hovdhaugen et al., 2023; Mendoza et al., 2016). His model is based on 
two levels of observation whose interactions provide an explanation of students ’ degree of 
commitment to their university programmes and, in some cases, why studen ts might abandon 
their studies. These levels are: 1) personal aspects, including family background, individual 
characteristics, and earlier educational experience, which influence aspirations and 
motivations, and 2) interactions within the university environment that facilitate academic, 
institutional, and social integration.  

Although Tinto’s model has been criticised, especially for not considering students’ 
ethnic backgrounds and cultural differences (Museus, 2013; Tierney, 1992), it has been 
influential and reframed by Latin American scholars. Thus, for example, de la Garza -
Carranza et al (2013) analyzed Mexican HE and highlighted the importance of social and 
organizational integration. Students start university with their own individual and family 
attributes, but from then on teaching staff and peer groups influence their personal 
development. Sustaining high academic attainment, setting clear goals, and forming networks 
in the university all shaped students’ decisions to stay at university. For Colombia, Patiño 
Garzón and Cardona Pérez (2012) stress the individual factors that affect students ’ personal 
and family histories, economic difficulties, shortcomings of secondary education, and a lack 
of vocational orientation as the main factors driving student dropout. Mendoza et al. (2016) 
adapted Tinto’s model within an ecological system theory to study the case of a technical 
college in Colombia.  

Tinto (2017) himself recognised that retention is a concept devel oped from an 
institutional perspective (HE institutions want to retain students) , while the point of view of 
students is that they want to persist in HE. Tinto complemented his institutional model of 
retention by considering persistence from students’ point of view, highlighting the 
importance of self-efficacy, a sense of belonging and perception of the curriculum as factors 
that strengthen students’ motivation to persist. In this paper we use both concepts, retention 
and persistence, as they account for different perspectives (institutional and student) towards 
the same result: the completion of a degree in HE. They are also interrelated since, as Banks 
& Dohy (2019) explain, student characteristics interact with the characteristics of the 
institutions they attend. While the term “drop-out” is a concept widely used in the literature, 
we prefer to talk of the “interruption” of HE studies. Drop-out assumes a definitive end to 
HE studies, whilst interruption leaves open the possibility that students will resume their 
studies at a later moment, as often occurs with vulnerable populations. 

Other authors concerned with retention from an institutional point of view highlight 
factors such as educational quality, student support policies, access to bibliographical and 
technological resources, and students’ social and academic integration (Chen, 2012). Several 
authors point out the interconnection of academic and social integration (De il-Amen, 2011; 
Mendoza et al., 2016; Museus, 2013) and its relation to a sense of belonging. Focusing on the 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. 48  6 

 

  

decision to drop out in the first year of HE, Wilcoxon (2010) highlights personal variables 
such as lack of commitment to the demands of university , the wrong choice of degree 
programme, and feelings of social isolation, as well as academic variables such as lack of skills 
among teaching staff and unrealized learning expectations. Stephens et al. (2015) explain that 
disparities in HE manifest in the performance of working-class students, through lower levels 
of academic attainment and graduation rates. This is due to pedagogical deficiencies at public 
schools, which have insufficient funds or teachers to develop the skills necessary for 
university. In addition, many students need to work in parallel to studying, which restricts 
their opportunities for integration within the university , which is often compounded by a lack 
of support from parents who have not been to university. 

Class differences and their effects on working class students have been studied by 
Bourdieu and Passeron (2009), who underline the influence of institutional culture in the 
French HE system. The authors show that the sectors most endowed with cultural capital 
(i.e., knowledge, language, or dispositions inherited from family and related to class position) 
have an advantage in HE, since cultural capital from upper classes is the most valued in the 
HE system. This unequal valuing of cultural resources exercise s symbolic violence against 
lower classes and reproduces an unequal distribution of knowledge and resources in society. 
More recent work highlights the importance of cultural and social capital in relation to social 
and academic integration in HE (Deil-Amen, 2011; Mendoza et al., 2016; Wells, 2008). In 
Latin America, Mato (2016), Souza Lima (2008) and Dietz (2017) took an intercultural 
approach to exploring the differentiated evaluation of knowledge at universities, focusing on 
the cases of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. Their results attested to the 
ethnocentric bias of university education, particularly the exclusion of Indigenous knowledge 
and diverse experiences that can transform university practices.  

To capture how these different factors play out in particular contexts, we follow the 
proposal of Mendoza et al. (2015) to understand them within an ecological model for HE. 
Mendoza et al. (2016) located Tinto’s institutional conditions for students’ retention within 
the layers of (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) ecological system theory, which conceptualizes human 
development as influenced by nested environments. The microsystem includes the individual 
and its closer spaces such as family and community. The mesosystem, takes in to account the 
normative pressures that emerge from the microsystem. The exosystem, considers 
institutional policies, financial aid, and students’ economic conditions. The macrosystem, as 
its name indicates, encompasses broader political, economic, social, and cultural contexts. 
Finally, the chronosystem refers to the specific moment in history and in localities, including 
historical events, social movements, and cultural trends, but also life transitions. The 
conditions for retention we have listed so far are located  in the students’ microsystems, 
mesosystems, and exosystems. As a global historical event, the COVID-19 pandemic is part 
of the chronosystem, so we briefly review the studies of its consequences on university 
students. 

Chronosystem: Pandemic’s Impact on University Students 

HE institutions’ responses to the pandemic globally varied widely, even within countries, 
depending on the resources of each university. These range from no response or simple course 
postponement to strategies aimed at avoiding students’ social isolation on campus, moving to 
online instruction, and implementing digital strategies (Crawford et al. 2020). For example, 
Duraku and Hoxha (2020) highlighted the effects of remote learning during the pandemic on the 
mental health of students in Kosovo. Emotional support from teachers proved to be a key factor 
in managing this period. However, students’ lack of concentration and reduced motivation to 
attend online classes, along with limited private space at home and family distractions, were 
disadvantages in online learning. These factors contributed to a moderate level of perceived stress 
and psychological and somatic anxiety.  



 Persistence, retention, and interruption among Peruvian scholarship students 7 

 

 

Regarding students who lived alone during this period, Knight et al. (2021) explained that 
emotional responses to self-isolation were diverse, ranging from a feeling of indifference to a 
significant drop in morale associated with loneliness, leading to difficulties in adapting to the new 
expectations of university life in the implementation of remote education. In a study of the daily 
life of students during the pandemic in 62 countries worldwide, Aristovnik et al. (2020) 
demonstrated overall satisfaction among students regarding the support provided by their 
teaching staff during this period, as well as a perception of a higher workload and increased 
concerns about their future careers, leading to significant uncertainty and anxiety.  

Difficulties in managing academic workloads were highlighted among English students by 
Aristeidou and Cross (2021), in addition to limited interaction with other students and tutors, and 
employment issues and childcare and caring responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Gonzalez et al. (2020) demonstrated in the Spanish context that the COVID-19-related 
lockdown had a significant positive effect on students’ performance, thanks to learning strategies 
based on continuous engagement that increased their efficiency. 

Miranda Pinto (2020) studied the effects of COVID-19 on the university experience in 
Latin America, and documented an exacerbation of social inequalities in HE for the case of 
Brazil. The most disadvantaged students were most affected by the pandemic. They faced greater 
difficulties paying their tuition fees at private universities and in accessing technology to take part 
in remote classes. In Argentina, Seminara (2021) revealed that student retention was directly 
related to psychological wellbeing, while dropping out was associated with problems related to 
lack of time, lack of motivation, social isolation, stress, and uncertainty. Relatedly, in Ecuador, 
Pertegal-Felices et al. (2022) showed that university dropout is correlated with a low level of 
student resilience in the face of the pandemic. 

The conceptual framework highlights the main factors influencing university student 
retention, persistence, and interruption as identified in the literature, related to the micro, meso, 
and exo systems within a macrosystem marked by an unequal and segmented educational system. 
The chronosystem, defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated issues such as social 
integration within the university, access to technological and bibliographic resources, social 
isolation, institutional identification, financial difficulties, and family problems. The lack of social 
interaction and the shift to online courses posed significant challenges for students in maintaining 
motivation, concentration, coping with social isolation, and safeguarding mental health. While 
numerous studies were conducted in the US, fewer focused on Latin American countries. There 
has been no research on how the pandemic affected Peruvian scholarship holders and their 
educational trajectories. Our analysis of educational retention and interruption among young 
people during the public health crisis in a Latin American context thus contributes to existing 
knowledge by expanding empirical evidence on the HE system in the global south. Figure 2 
(presented in the next section) summarises the way we conceptualise the retention factors 
presented in the literature review within an ecological model. 

Materials and Methods 

What factors affect the persistence, retention and interruption of HE among Peruvian 
students who are (or were) beneficiaries of a scholarship programme during the public health 
crisis? How did PRONABEC’s scholarships help students cope with the crisis? To what 
extent did the crisis disrupt HE and force the withdrawal of scholarship holders? These are 
the research questions we aimed to address through a qualitative and biographical research 
design anchored in life course theory (Elder et al., 2003). We used semi -structured interviews 
to inquire about biographical data and university experiences. The interview protocol 
contained eight sections. For this paper we focus on data gathered in sections 4 to 8, as they 
relate most directly with the research questions addressed here . Section 4 inquired about the 
factors leading to persistence and section 5 about the factors leading to interruption; section 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. 48  8 

 

  

6 and 7 inquired about family relationships and partner relationships respectively as they may 
relate to persistence and/or interruption, whilst section 8 asked about how Covid affected 
their university experience. Questions within each section aimed to produce information on 
four levels of observation across time: individual, family, institution and context, 
corresponding with the micro, meso, exo, macro and chrono systems. Due to the restrictions 
of the pandemic, we conducted the interviews remotely, either by telephone or by video call, 
and recorded them with the consent of the participants. Interviews took between two and 
three hours. 

The study was carried out between May and July 2021 in three regions of Peru: La 
Libertad, Loreto, and Puno, which are representative of Peru ’s three major 
geographical/cultural environments (the coast, the Amazon and the Andes, respectively). La 
Libertad is a coastal region in the north of the country with rural and semi -urban areas 
surrounding the main city, where several HE institutions attract young people in the area. 
Loreto is the biggest and most culturally diverse region in the country, with 2 7 ethnic groups; 
its universities, located in the capital city Iquitos, serve Indigenous and non-Indigenous 
students from urban and rural backgrounds. Puno is in the southern Andes , where 
universities enroll students from the surrounding rural areas, with Quechua and Aymara 
backgrounds. Taken together these three regions represent the diversity of contexts in the 
country. 

We chose a public and a private university in each region. The type of management 
was relevant for comparison in a context of growing enrollment in private HE institutions 
but also because of a shift of public policies to support more public HE institutions. There is 
only one public university in each region but there may be more than one private university. 
We chose the latter according to the number of scholarship holders, to maximize the chance 
of recruiting participants. We approached university authorities in each of the selected 
universities and met with them personally. All universities  agreed to participate. 

At each of the six universities we interviewed 10 students: current beneficiaries of a 
scholarship programme or former beneficiaries who had dropped out and lost their funding, 
before, or during the pandemic.  Given the restrictions of the pandemic that required us to 
contact students through phone or email, we employed non -probability and purposive 
sampling to gather 60 scholarship holders from the Beca 18 and Beca Permanencia 
programmes, distributed equally among men and women. The  students were contacted 
directly by the research team based on information we obtained from a formal request to 
PRONABEC. The main criteria for inclusion was that participants had one of the 
scholarships. We encountered more difficulties contacting schola rship students who 
interrupted their studies in Puno and La Libertad (one and three cases, respectively) than we 
did in Loreto (nine cases). However, this does not reflect the dropout rate in each region 
(18% in La Libertad, 12% in Loreto, and 10% in Puno). The participants gave their consent 
and participated voluntarily in the study. In this paper we replace their real names with 
pseudonyms to protect confidentiality. 

For the analysis of the results, we adapted the Ageven form (see Figure 1), a tool for 
the systematization and representation of biographical data pertaining to an individual across 
each of the trajectories that comprise their life course (Cavagnoud et al, 2019). Observing 
students’ university trajectories meant considering the positive or neg ative events and 
situations related to their family environment and the contexts in which their life courses 
unfold. The time unit t of this form is expressed in years from birth until the time of the 
interview. 
 



 Persistence, retention, and interruption among Peruvian scholarship students 9 

 

 

Figure 1 
The Ageven Form (adapted to this research) 
 
Interviewed 

ego 
Levels of observation Variables 

Biographical data ego 

Ego name:  
Age: 
Sex:  

Date: 
Place:  
No:  

Context 

Social and economic                                             

Political                                             

Health                                              

Institutional/university 

University environment                                              

Organizational integration                                             

Social integration                                             

Student support policies                                             

Others                                             

Family 

Father and mother                                             

Siblings                                             

Other relatives                                             

Household Economics                                             

Family climate                                             

Individual (ego) 

Education                                             

Work/personal finances                                             

Peers/social life                                             

Residence/migration                                             

Partner/sexuality                                             

Health/mental health                                             

t 
Year                                             

Age 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 n 

Overlaps and undated data: 

Source: compiled by authors. 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. X  10 

 

  

 The Ageven form aligns well with the theoretical framework based on retention factors 
within an ecological model (see Figure 2). The individual level of this tool corresponds to the 
microsystem and encompasses the various trajectories of students (educational, occup ational, 
social, residential/migratory, affective, and health-related), allowing for the recording of relevant 
information about the personal aspects and characteristics of each young person in these 
different social spheres, with a particular focus on events occurring within these trajectories that 
alter their life course (for example, graduation from school, migration to a city, forming an 
affective relationship, birth of a child, etc.). The micro level also includes the family domain, 
corresponding to biographical data related to students’ parents, siblings, domestic economy, and 
family climate. Secondly, the institutional level presented in this instrument refers to the meso 
and exo dimensions of the theoretical model, allowing for the recording of in formation 
regarding the interactions of young people in the university environment through their 
academic, institutional, and social integration (or exclusion), as well as student support programs 
implemented by universities, access to bibliographic and technological resources, and the 
institutional culture of each university. Finally, the contextual level of the form echoes the 
macrosocial dimension and integrates sociohistorical processes related to structural inequalities 
in access to education and discrimination against disadvantaged and culturally marginalized 
populations due to their class, geographical or ethnic origin. The historical context characterized 
by the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of emergency remote learning constitutes 
the chronosystem, but the tool also contributes to understanding individual life trajectories and 
transitions. 
 
Figure 2  
Location of Observational Levels of Ageven within an Ecological Model for Higher Education 

 
Source: compiled by authors. 

 

Context 

Individual 

Institutional Educational quality, student support policies, 
access to bibliographical/ technological 
resources 
Institutional culture (cultural capital) 

Pandemic: mental health of students & 
psychological wellbeing, loneliness, anxiety 
and uncertainty. remote education. 

Socioeconomic inequalities, racial and ethnic 
disparities, pedagogical deficiencies at public 
schools 

 

Family 
Interactions within the university 
environment through academic, institutional, 
and social integration, sense of belonging 

Personal aspects, including 
family background,  
individual characteristics, and 
earlier educational experience 



Persistence, retention and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students  11 
 

 

Results 

The results are presented across three sections, each integrating the personal biographies and 
testimonies of scholarship holders to illustrate the impact of various systems on their educational 
trajectories. The macrosystem (higher education), as described in the introduction, highlights the 
social inequalities that characterise HE in Peru and sets the stage for the students’ individual stories. 
The first section addresses the chronosystem, focusing on the implications of the public health crisis 
on the university experience of scholarship students. The second section turns to the factors that 
contributed to students’ persistence and their retention in HE within micro, meso and exosystems. 
Finally, the last section focuses on the factors that precipitated interruption. 

Chronosystem: Risks Associated to Students’ University Progression  

The COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized the persistence of students in HE. We explore four 
major issues related to the consequences of the pandemic: mental health and motivation; adapting to 
remote learning; connectivity; and economic hardship, as presented to us by students themselves. 

Students’ Mental Health and Motivation Levels 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory confinement imposed by the authorities left 
many students unable to return home to their families, forcing them to live alone. On top of being 
isolated from their family members, some students expressed sadness over their inability to socialize 
with classmates. Magali, 20, a student majoring in systems engineering at the Universidad Científica 
del Perú in Iquitos and a beneficiary of the Beca 18 Comunidades Nativas de la Amazonia (CNA) 
shared: 

From the first weeks that the pandemic started, I felt lonely, often sad. I didn ’t 
have any classmates living near my home, and I couldn’t go out for fear of getting 
infected. It was very difficult to concentrate on my studies every day with this 
feeling of loneliness. (interview, June 12, 2021) 
 

Beyond the periods of mandatory confinement, fear of getting (or passing on) the virus prompted 
voluntary home confinement and prolonged feelings of solitude. This fear had consequences for 
students’ mental health and motivation to attend classes and focus on their studies. Added to these 
problems were the frequent concerns over finding available oxygen supplies for family members 
with COVID-19 amid nationwide shortages, as well as the grief over the death of family members 
from the virus. 

Emergency Remote Learning 

A factor regularly mentioned by scholarship students related to the experience of distance 
education through platforms such as Zoom or Google Meet, with which they were unfamiliar. 
Before the pandemic, many universities did not have specialized teaching methodologies for virtual 
education. These measures had to be implemented as a matter of emergency, which meant that they 
were not as effective as distance learning provisions planned with due anticipation. Universities had 
to delay the recommencement of the academic calendar for several weeks to make the minimal level 
of preparations. This new educational format required exceptional efforts on the part of students to 
adapt to new tools. Students also had to learn forms of concentration and discipline that they had 
not previously experienced. 

Rogelio, 22, a student of geological engineering at the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano 
(UNA) in Puno and a beneficiary of Beca 18, explained that distance learning had a significant 
impact on his course of study, which primarily involved fieldwork and laboratory work: 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. X  12 

 

  

With virtual classes, we haven’t been learning as we should be. We try to put in all 
our effort, but it’s not possible. We couldn’t go out to the field, and we only saw 
amazing images and videos, but it’s not the same. In those moments, both my 
classmates and I were greatly affected. The other issue was the learning method, 
which was not suitable because often, through a laptop, we get sleepy. We can pay 
attention for 1 hour, 1 hour 20 minutes, and then our eyes start to burn, we get 
drowsy, and it’s impossible to continue classes for up to 6 hours straight. (interview, 
July 17, 2021) 

 
On the other hand, the new learning context caused frequent losses of communication among 
students. The lack of socialization at university was a dispiriting factor for many students who were 
unable to draw on the support of their peers to make sense of and share concerns about coursework 
and exams. This situation was compounded by insufficient understanding or inclination on the part 
of some of the teaching staff to support students in distance learning, partly because of their own 
lack of familiarity and inexperience with the new virtual technologies and platforms. 

Virtual Classes 

In addition to the challenge posed by the implementation of an online education offering, 
connectivity problems associated with antiquated or defective devices were another recurring risk 
factor for interruption. Jerónimo, 20, a student majoring in civil engineering at the Universidad 
Privada del Norte (UPN) in Trujillo and a beneficiary of the Beca 18, explained: 

When the pandemic started, virtual classes began, and it was difficult to access faster 
internet to avoid difficulties in video conferences. We ordered internet packages, but 
they took a long time to arrive, and in the meantime, we had to use an overloaded 
and low-quality internet connection, many times through a cellphone. (interview, 
June 12, 2021) 
 

The unequal distribution of high-quality internet connections, a lack of fibre optic technology, and 
inadequate electricity supply are common problems in Peru that became more prominent during the 
pandemic, especially in the region of Loreto. The digital gap between urban and rural areas was also 
important, in that numerous students returned to their communities of origin due to fear of 
transmission in the major cities and to overcome isolation. 

Economic Difficulties  

The closure of businesses as part of the COVID-19 containment measures created a 
situation in which some students’ parents could no longer work to get through the crisis. Many 
young people reached a point at which their education was side-lined, due to the need to work in the 
informal sector to help provide for their households. 

Yolanda, 26, a student majoring in biological sciences at the Universidad Nacional de 
Amazonía Peruana (UNAP) and a beneficiary of the Beca Permanencia, describeed her family 
situation: 

My aunt took care of all the expenses in the end because it was her brother 
[Yolanda’s father became seriously ill with COVID-19], and seeing him like that 
hurt her a lot. Additionally, both my dad’s and mom’s families started supporting 
us. It was uncomfortable because I felt like I was receiving charity. I started 
selling the things I had, and we ended up with nothing. Sometimes, there was 



Persistence, retention and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students  13 
 

 

nothing to eat, and what mattered were the medicatio ns. (interview, June 16, 
2021) 

  
On the other hand, some students assumed new domestic care responsibilities, distancing them 
from the demands of their degree programmes. Indeed, when grandparents or other older family 
members fell ill to the virus, students were often the household members least exposed to its worst 
effects and thus assumed the caregiving responsibilities usually discharged by their own parents. 
Taking charge of these daily caregiving tasks posed a direct risk to the continuation of many of the 
students’ university education. Yolanda added, “It was stressful to have to attend classes and see my 
dad lying in bed, complaining that he was suffocating, that he lacked oxygen, and giving him 
medication… The whole situation was terrible.” 

Factors Leading to Persistence in HE  

Given this adverse context, we next examine the main combinations of factors that allowed 
most students to get through the crisis and persist with their education in the scholarship 
programme, organized by ecological levels. 

Microsystem: Family Support 

Following the implementation of mandatory confinement and the remote learning format, 
many young people opted to leave the place to which they had migrated—before or after the 
imposition of travel restrictions—and return to their parents in their settlements or communities of 
origin. This return meant a new kind of co-habitation with family members after months or years of 
residential autonomy and readapting to a collective way of life that included participation in 
domestic chores and other home responsibilities. In these circumstances, the warmth of the family 
environment emerged as a key factor to facilitate persistence with their studies. When the students 
recognized a sense of unity and support at home with their families, they found better conditions for 
concentrating in class. 

This is exemplified by the case of Roberta, 22, from Requena in Loreto, who was in the 
ninth cycle of a degree in environmental engineering at Universidad Científica del Perú in Iquitos, 
and was a beneficiary of Beca 18: 

We had in-person classes all January, February, and March until they were suspended 
from March 13. Because they decided in time that there would be two weeks without 
activities, I took advantage of the last day there was [freedom of] movement and 
went to Requena [in Loreto]. (interview, June 15, 2021) 
 

Roberta’s stay in her community continued as the authorities declared new mobility restrictions, and 
she remained there until remote classes came to an end. This allowed her to count on the moral 
support of her parents, both primary teachers, who were able to teach remotely and continue to earn 
money during the pandemic. This situation also provided Roberta a room to herself in which to 
study and the internet connection she needed to attend virtual classes. 

We took great care of each other and went out only to go shopping, because we 
didn’t even get access to medication. It was tough. The only one who got a bit more 
seriously ill was me, but a nurse came to our home to check on me and I got better. 
(interview, June 15, 2021) 
 

Returning to her family home coupled with the moral and financial support of her parents allowed 
Roberta to continue attaining high grades and complete her studies. 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. X  14 

 

  

The economic and psychological difficulties caused by the pandemic and its multiple 
consequences—parental unemployment, a steep decline in income, concerns over buying food, 
illness or death of a close family member, and so on—required family members to pool together. 
When a system of mutual assistance is organized within a family network, families are better 
positioned to address problems. For students, this network can assist them in finding the motivation 
to continue with their studies. 

This was particularly striking in the case of Julia, 21, from the Yagua ethnic group, who was 
in the seventh cycle of a nursing degree at UNAP and a beneficiary of the Beca 18 CNA. At the start 
of the pandemic, she opted to return to her home community, which required a day of travel by 
boat from Iquitos, the city where she studies. Her father engages in subsistence agriculture and her 
mother is a worker at an infant care centre. Mandatory confinement measures prevented the family 
from obtaining income. To make matters worse, the pandemic’s impact in the region was 
devastating: 

It has affected us both financially and psychologically. My entire family stayed at 
home without working and we saw in the news that it was all deaths and more 
deaths. For a while we stopped watching television because it was affecting us too 
much. My partner got COVID and almost died. My mum still gets the after-effects; 
my grandmother, everyone in the family had them. (interview, May 23, 2021) 
 

In these circumstances, it was her aunt that was able to sustain the family as well as Julia’s education:  
My aunt lives in Canada and she’s doing okay financially. She always sent us a little 
money because we had no other income. Apart from that I had no savings and used 
my scholarship to spend on medication. She’s the only aunt that can always help us. 
She’s a nurse and is studying to become a doctor. (…) She always calls me, talks to 
me, and gives me advice and I’m very grateful to her. (interview, June 16, 2021) 
 

This support allowed Julia to prioritize her education rather than working. She performed well 
despite problems with her internet connection, and passed all her courses during the pandemic. 

Mesosystem: Scholarship Support 

For many students, the scholarship was a vital source of support that aided the purchase of 
internet services for the family home. Indeed, this funding allowed many of them to acquire a better-
quality service, assure connectivity, and follow online classes without major difficulties. Moreover, 
the scholarship was a means of emotional as well as material support that helped motivate the 
students and overcome the trauma of the pandemic by looking towards their professional 
development. When some of the universities disbursed additional grants for the acquisition of a 
laptop computer, some students chose to add this sum to their existing scholarships to obtain a 
better device and assure access to online platforms. 

For instance, Julián, 23, who is in the ninth cycle of a systems engineering degree 
programme at UNA in Puno, received the Beca Permanencia. Like many other students, Julián went 
home, to Sicuani, four and a half hours by road from Puno, at the start of the pandemic and 
attended classes remotely. He spoke of the emotional impact of confinement at home: “The stress 
of not being able to go out and not being able to unwind after a course, and just being there [at 
home], exhausts you” (interview). Julián’s parents encouraged him and his four siblings to undertake 
higher education even though they themselves had not done so, resulting in a “pro-university” 
family synergy and strong bonds of mutual assistance between the siblings. Moreover, the 
scholarship provided some peace of mind when it came to meeting expenses during the temporary 



Persistence, retention and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students  15 
 

 

unemployment of their father: “Thanks to the payment from the scholarship I’ve been able to pay 
for good connectivity. It’s not perfect because the line goes from time to time, but these are minor 
things” (interview). Julián pointed out that the university’s provision of internet packages lasted for 
one academic semester only. But the service he acquired helped him pass all his courses during the 
remote learning period, and graduate from his degree programme. 

Exosystem: Institutional Support  

As a student support policy, some universities provided remote psychological counselling 
and medical consultations to monitor student wellbeing at a distance. This was recognized as a very 
useful source of support at times of high COVID-19 transmission. It is also worth mentioning the 
provision of free online tutoring, remedial sessions, and supplementary classes by teaching staff 
hired through PRONABEC, as well as the training and tutorials offered via the Aprende Más 
distance learning platform. The students also noted the orientation talks organized by PRONABEC 
on healthcare strategies, as well as the administration of questionnaires aimed at discerning students’ 
emotional states during the pandemic. This institutional support was valued, and represented an 
additional motivation. Some universities also lent tablets, while public universities gave out internet 
packages to assure connectivity. 

Camilo, 21, was in the eighth cycle of a degree in political sciences at UNT and had been a 
recipient of Beca Permanencia from the academic year preceding the pandemic. Before mandatory 
confinement, he went back to his family home in Santiago de Cao, 30 kilometres north of the city of 
Trujillo. Four of his aunts and uncles died during the first wave of COVID-19. Camilo regrets the 
loss of physical contact with his friends during the first year of the pandemic, even if he was able to 
keep in touch through social media. However, problems with connectivity were a constant 
throughout the period of remote learning. Camilo recalled: 

My connection is really bad. Here there’s not even cable internet coverage, just the 
telephone signal to get internet [...] But I’ve got a small mobile phone that you put a 
SIM into and it gives out a signal. The school gave us internet SIMs. It’s slow but it’s 
been very useful for classes. (interview, May 31, 2021) 
 

In addition, Camilo explained that PRONABEC supported him financially with an emergency 
voucher to buy a new laptop computer. The combined assistance from his university and the 
national scholarship authority allowed Camilo to complete all his third-year courses as well as taking 
part in a distance exchange with a private university in Lima. 

The support provided by other organizations was also notable. For instance, in Iquitos, the 
Organization of Students from the Indigenous Peoples of Peruvian Amazonia (Organización de 
Estudiantes de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Amazonia Peruana, or OEPIAP, in Spanish), in 
conjunction with the regional government, provided lodging and food for Indigenous students, and 
also managed to offer support and medicines for students with COVID. 

Factors leading to HE Interruptions  

Microsystem: Family Needs 

The public health crisis imposed new family responsibilities, and in some cases, these could 
not be reconciled with students’ studies. Some students decided to leave their studies to work and 
support their families, who had no other sources of income. The time spent doing so meant their 
coursework was neglected. Other students, women in particular, were often overwhelmed with the 
responsibility of caring for family members who were often sick with COVID. 



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. X  16 

 

  

One such case was that of Claudia, 23, from the Kukama ethnic group, who was studying at 
UNAP when her parents caught COVID while she was staying with her older sister in Lima. The 
declaration of a health emergency made travel impossible, and her parents’ medical situation was 
gradually deteriorating. 

My parents said they were okay, but they were gradually getting worse. My dad got 
severe coronavirus, it was serious. He had difficulty breathing and there was no 
medication there, and we were in Lima going crazy. We didn’t know what to do. I 
wanted to go back [to her community] at that point but I couldn’t. (interview, May 
30, 2021) 
 

Once domestic flights recommenced in August 2020, Claudia returned to her home community to 
care for her younger sisters, who were on their own while their parents were in hospital. She noted: 
“[Her sisters] were feeding themselves. No one was going around, no one reached out. They made 
soup and the like for themselves as far as they could manage.” This situation, added to the fear of 
getting the virus in Iquitos, influenced Claudia’s decision to stay in her home community, even 
though the lack of internet coverage there made it impossible for her to carry on studying. “I went 
back and there where I was there was no internet. But now I was there I stayed to look after my 
parents, my little sisters. That was how I lost my scholarship.” Her mother’s hostel business was the 
main source of income for the family, which meant Claudia did not have to work. However, 
Claudia’s mother became angry when she found out her daughter had dropped out of her 
scholarship and degree programme, regarding this as a lost opportunity. 

Mesosystem: COVID Transmission 

Among those students who dropped out, some mentioned getting COVID-19 in the first 
weeks of the pandemic. Some students suffered severe effects, including weight loss and depression, 
which, in the worst cases, threatened their lives. The virus kept these students away from their 
courses for several weeks, and left them unable to take exams. They lost contact with their 
classmates, the university, and PRONABEC, which disrupted their education and resulted in their 
scholarships being taken away from them. In other cases, failing exams precipitated the suspension 
of the scholarship, based on the rules and conditions in place at the time. 

One such example is Percy, 22, who was a chemical engineering student at UNAP and a 
beneficiary of Beca 18. He fell ill with dengue and then COVID-19 in the early weeks of the 
pandemic. Percy shared: 

In 2020, I enrolled and that was when I got sick with dengue.8 I didn’t study, and 
failed all my courses. That was in the first semester, when I started the classes. Just as 
I was getting better, I felt COVID tightening its grip and it floored me. I got 
seriously ill, very seriously ill. It was really bad. I felt like I was going to die. I felt like 
if I went to hospital, I would die. [...] I remember one night my mum was saying 
goodbye. It was really sad.” (interview, May 23, 2021) 
 

During this period, Percy lost touch with everyone related to the university. At the end of the 
semester, he was informed that he had failed all his courses and that the scholarship had been 
withdrawn as a result. Percy’s explanation about what had happened was not enough to remedy the 
situation; instead, he was told that he should have explained the situation to the scholarship office to 

                                                           
8 In the case of Iquitos, some students came down with dengue. The epidemiological alert caused by this 
disease preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, but received less media coverage. 



Persistence, retention and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students  17 
 

 

withdraw from his courses. But the social isolation during his months of illness precipitated severe 
mental health problems, side-lining his studies. 

Situations like the above were especially prevalent in the early months of the pandemic. In 
subsequent semesters, scholarship administrators were more flexible when it came to assessing cases 
and retaining scholarship students who had failed or dropped out of their studies on health grounds. 
However, many students were suspended from their respective scholarship programmes during the 
first academic semester of 2020. 

Exosystem: Technical Issues 

Finally, problems with IT equipment, combined with limited internet access and an inability 
to buy new materials in the middle of the pandemic, disrupted the studies of several scholarship 
holders. This situation attests to the importance of access to devices and services required for taking 
part in virtual classes. 

The case of Joaquín, 22, who studied economics at UNT with the support of a Beca 
Permanencia award in 2019, is illustrative to this point. At the start of the pandemic, Joaquín 
decided to return home to his parents in the rural district of Casa Grande, which is an hour by bus 
from the city of Trujillo, but various technical difficulties arose. He explained: 

When they said that the classes were going to be virtual, I had a computer, but then it 
broke down, and in my house, we didn’t have internet either. […] As it’s a small 
village there wasn’t always internet. There was nowhere to get printouts to do the 
work, and that’s when I decided to put it aside [his studies]. (interview, June 16, 
2021) 
 

These material problems were compounded by his difficulties in meeting expenses, so Joaquín 
elected to work for a financial venture recommended by a friend. He noted: “It’s a digital business 
on market investments […]. I followed someone who did videos on YouTube, an international 
conference speaker. I liked them. They opened my mind to seeing things differently.” In his view, 
this activity offered greater earning and personal development opportunities than staying at 
university, where in three years he perceived no such benefits. Joaquín could financially support his 
parents, whose diabetes placed them at risk and left them unable to work since the start of the 
pandemic. Thus, for Joaquín, a combination of economic pressure, technical difficulties, and more 
gainful and meaningful work opportunities lead him to leave HE.  

Discussion and Conclusions 

Our study sought to understand what factors were at play for persistence, retention, and 
interruption among scholarship holders of Beca 18 and Beca Permanencia in Peruvian universities 
amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The conceptual framework relies on studies 
related to student retention and persistence in HE located in an ecological system theory.  

We situated individual factors within the microsystem level, and found a strong personal 
motivation in most of the students who continued studying. Such motivation helped them to get 
through difficult times with resilience and a clear goal of finishing their career. Conversely, when we 
found lack of motivation (due to disengagement with studies, health problems or family concerns), 
students tended to interrupt their studies. Family support received by students was also an important 
factor, even if their parents did not attend university themselves. Parents and other family members 
provided moral as well as affective support and, in some cases, also modest financial support for 
students who returned to their family homes.  



Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 32  No. X  18 

 

  

As evidenced in prior studies (Patiño Garzón & Cardona Pérez, 2012; Stephens et al. ,2015), 
family financial hardship was a significant factor in university dropout during the pandemic due to 
the low income of many households and the need of many students to contribute to family earnings. 
We also documented caregiving activities that many students had to assume for family members 
with, or at high risk from, COVID-19. Becoming sick, attending to relatives who become sick, or 
assuming a larger share of domestic chores were factors at the microsystem level that lead to 
interruption of HE. All these situations negatively affected some students’ motivation to continue 
with their programmes. Family support was weakened when family members became sick and 
needed attention. In addition, the health system crisis at the macrosystem level also contributed to 
the microsystem level demands, since families were left alone to solve the health crisis when the 
medical system was overloaded. 

Thus, the data regarding university scholarship recipients shows a strong connection 
between family support and personal motivation, as the former nurtures the latter through moral 
advice and material help. However, in the context of the pandemic, the need to physically care for 
family members illustrates how additional demands fall on the students when there is no institutional 
support from the health care system. This is particularly true of the female students to whom 
caregiving is disproportionately assigned. 

At the exosystem level, the existence of student support policies during the pandemic, 
including the scholarships themselves and access to technological resources, created a scenario 
favorable for HE retention. The experience of several students shows that when household income 
was too scarce to meet basic needs, the scholarship became a fundamental source of support, 
partially or even entirely comprising the family’s livelihood. Before the pandemic the scholarship was 
instrumental in allowing students to devote themselves to their education, without the need to work. 
And in many cases, confirmation of scholarship funding in the early weeks of the pandemic was 
decisive in preventing withdrawal from the university system. The flexibility of the scholarship 
programmes, even when classes were disrupted, was key to covering living expenses such as food, 
transportation, or rent, and without it many scholarship holders would have had to stop studying. 
This monthly payment continued its basic function of alleviating the conditions of poverty or 
extreme poverty in which its recipients and their families had been living since before the pandemic. 

Aligning with (Chen 2012), our findings show that student support policies prove 
instrumental in times of crisis. The award of a scholarship and its disbursement during the 
pandemic, as we have seen, was a decisive factor in facilitating student retention in the Peruvian 
university system, while also helping them tackle financial hardship. Chen (2012) also takes into 
account academic and social integration, a factor also highlighted by Tinto (1975, 1993) and de la 
Garza-Carranza et al (2013). During the pandemic, isolation reduced students’ opportunities for 
social integration. Wilcoxon (2010) points to feelings of social isolation as a factor leading to drop 
out. Also, Seminara (2021) underscored how social isolation was a factor leading to drop out during 
the COVID pandemic in Argentina. Likewise, institutional identification may have been more 
difficult to achieve in the circumstances of the pandemic. Indeed, during the pandemic some 
students lost contact with university and PRONABEC staff, and as a result, they lost their 
scholarships. In these cases, a decline in social integration and institutional identification led some 
students to fail to take advantage of student support policies as they were overwhelmed by other 
concerns such as health, care, and work. In these cases, the scholarship was not enough. 

Despite the absence of personal interactions with peers and teaching staff due to the 
mandatory confinement, students described strategies they used to overcome such hardships, such 
as using social media networks to communicate with peers and family, or moving back to their 
families to avoid isolation while taking classes remotely. Also, the efforts by PRONABEC and 
universities to support students, from the rapid adoption of virtual platforms to continue to provide 



Persistence, retention and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students  19 
 

 

remote education, to remedial classes to reinforce content in difficult courses, tutoring sessions, 
counselling and other measures of student support, supported greater institutional identification and 
recognition among university students, thereby contributing to their retention. 

Our study did not assess the quality of education or the academic environment in the 
universities, as the pandemic required we conduct remote interviews instead of participant 
observation in universities. However, interviews revealed difficulties in using virtual platforms, as 
students were new to these platforms. Moreover, students reported that some of the teaching staff 
were not able to support students in distance learning, partly because of their own lack of familiarity 
with the new virtual technologies. Our own use of video calls and Zoom for the interviews 
highlighted poor-quality connections, especially in Iquitos, which may have also affected the quality 
of lessons and education provided in that region. More research is needed to assess this aspect of 
HE during the pandemic. 

Our findings indicate that more investment in student support policies, including support for 
health and mental health related issues, remedial classes and tutoring, and aid to access computer 
devices, as well as financial scholarships covering the costs of studying, may increase the retention of 
students from low-income households through HE. However, student support policies may need to 
provide targeted support for female students burdened with additional family care responsibilities, 
either by providing flexibility for their reinsertion in the study program and scholarship; or by 
offering information and services to cope with family care. 

Finally, the results confirm the exacerbation of social inequalities during the pandemic—a  
trend analysed in other Latin American countries (Miranda Pinto, 2020). More specifically, we 
observe new forms of inequality that are based on connections between social, economic, and 
territorial variables to which rural parts of the country are most exposed. The lack of high-quality 
internet coverage throughout Peru affects the country’s social life, and during the pandemic, it was a 
key factor in hindering the university education of young people largely reliant on scholarships.  
  

Acknowledgements 
 
The authors wish to thank Melissa Villegas, Claudia Soberón, Roxana Gastelú, and Omar Correa for 
their participation as research assistants, all the young people who were interviewed during this 
study, as well as the staff of the National Program of Scholarships and Educational Credit 
(PRONABEC) and the universities for their collaboration. We also thank the three anonymous 
reviewers and the editor for their useful comments to improve the original manuscript. 

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Persistence, retention and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students  23 
 

 

About the Authors 

Robin Cavagnoud (corresponding author) 
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú 
rcavagnoud@pucp.pe 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0584-8620 
PhD in Latin American Studies (Sociology and Demography) from the Institute of Latin American 
Higher Studies (IHEAL, Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle), serves as a full professor in the 
Department of Social Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). His research 
focuses on demographic and family transformations in Latin America, integrating quantitative and 
qualitative methods of population studies. 
 
Patricia Ames 
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú 
pames@pucp.edu.pe 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3098-8780 
PhD, University of London. Full professor of anthropology at the Department of Social Sciences at 
the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). Her research interests are centered around 
educational inequalities and access to higher education for minority groups. She has a primary focus 
on the Peruvian education system.  

 

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