This week, due to a database programming error, government-sponsored loans as well as educational grants for low-income students were given to the wealthiest of those who applied. “Mechonbarsa” (ES) [1] writes that President Lagos promised that 40,000 students would be covered by the loans and scholarships, but now only 14,000 will have that possibility. He also shows the SQL code which led to the error. The new weblog, Derecho a la education (ES) [2] tries to make sense out of the complex rules of the scholarships. The Education Ministry, MINEDUC, announced on its website (ES) [3] that 49.000 students applied for the goverment backing.
On the other hand, Rafaela, a law student from a middle-class family, explains (ES) [4] that she was approved for a loan to continue her law studies until receiving another letter three days later which said her approval was a mistake. Rafaela believes the disbursement of the grants should take into consideration more than just one's economic situation. In yet another case, Tama posts (ES) [5] that she received a loan, but with the caveat that she study at an institute, not university. She is now considering foregoing the loan to study psychology as she had planned or changing her field of study to social service or psycho-pedagogy in order to take advantage of the funding.