Equitable Access to Higher Education in Chile: Challenging Experiences for Special-Access Students

This study analyzes the experiences of a sample of special-access students who entered through three special-access programs in one public university in Chile. I used semi-structured interviews with six participants to conduct a thematic analysis (Guest, MacQueen, & Namey, 2014). Results show that, as expected, challenging experiences by far exceeded positive ones, and within challenges, those relating to (a) academic issues (b) navigating school resources, and (c) mental health, were among the most prevalent ones.