Students excluded from UNAM entrance exam due to cost of travel

Dozens of parents and their children have undertaken arduous and expensive journeys to Tijuana, Mexico, for a second entrance examination for the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The students, who had initially passed the online evaluation and even received enrollment dates, now face a new hurdle due to irregularities discovered in the first stage.

“

The first filter is money, there are many parents who could not afford to bring their children to a city so far away, because it is not just the flight, it is the stay, the food, it is asking for permission at work, it is having someone to support you to take care of the other children... Decisions were made from the center without considering other realities, they think it's simple to just take a flight and that's it, that is the real exclusion.

Juan Antonio, who traveled over 3,000 kilometers from Coahuila, described the ordeal, which included flights and time off work, costing around 15,000 pesos. He lamented that UNAM's decision to implement a second evaluation, announced after they had already made travel arrangements to Mexico City, forced them to start the process anew.

Alejandro, who traveled from Tampico, Tamaulipas, with his daughter aspiring to study aerospace engineering, echoed these sentiments. Their two flights alone cost over 22,000 pesos. He criticized the university's decision-making process, stating, "Decisions were made from the center without considering other realities; they think it's simple to just take a flight and that's it." He believes the first filter is money, as many parents cannot afford the extensive costs associated with travel, accommodation, and meals required for a distant exam.

“

When they took the first exam and passed, they were even given an enrollment date. We were already in Mexico City when they announced there would be a second evaluation, we canceled the spaces we had already secured and it was starting over.

Out of an initial registration of 518 students for the Tijuana examination site, only 69 appeared for the first evaluation session. Gerónimo, whose son was sent to Tijuana from Mexico City to study mathematics, noted that many students were ultimately excluded not due to a lack of knowledge, but because they lacked the financial means to attend. The parents expressed frustration that UNAM's new requirement, intended to address irregularities, has inadvertently created a system of exclusion based on economic status.

“

My son wants to study Mathematics, we don't understand why they sent us all the way here. In the end, those who were left out were not for lack of knowledge, but because there was no money to arrive.