Higher Education in Brazil and Social Inclusion Policies

This article examines social inclusion policies for low-income students and/or students who belong to minority racial groups: a policy of quotas (public sector) and the Programa Universidade para Todos/ProUni (University for All Program/ProUni) (private sector); and the appraisal beneficiary students make about their trajectory until entering Higher Education, as well as what means in their lives "to be in the university". Interviewed students have a positive perception of policies. The opportunity of entering university makes the difference in their lives bringing the expectation of changes in social position, acquiring new school and symbolic capitals, doing away with the notion of mechanical transmission of the inherited cultural capital.