Brazil Has a School Problem

Brazil’s state universities enjoy a sterling reputation. But students who qualify for admission come largely from exclusive and expensive private schools. Pupils who attend public schools usually don’t move very far up from their crumbling and often violent neighborhoods.

Former President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva and his successor, Dilma Rousseff—who was impeached last year—attempted to solve the problem by plowing what the federal audit court estimates at 43.2 billion reais ($14 billion) into a student loan program called Fies from 2009 to 2015. The loans supported students turned away from state universities who could use the funds to attend a network of for-profit colleges. Those institutions now educate about 6 million—76 percent of all college students in Brazil.