PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC, ACADEMIC, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a vast impact on society, particularly in the higher education (HE) context, with online classes and social isolation recommendations.While much of the post-pandemic research on this topic does not distinguish between public and private institutions or focuses mainly on public institutions, exploring students' realities (similarities and differences) in public and private universities deserves special consideration.Along with other aspects, considering the pandemic's economic challenges and discrepancies in tuition fees between institutions, such a topic might be of particular interest.Financial distress may encourage students to seek employment alongside their studies, which may lead to additional difficulties or potentially negative outcomes.This cross-sectional study aimed to: (1) compare students enrolled in public and private universities in a set of relevant variables, including dropout intentions;(2) assess if there are interaction effects between type of institution (public vs. private) and work status (being or not a working student).A stratified sample of 1070 Portuguese university students aged between 19 and 45 years (M = 22.87 ; SD = 3.64), selected through a convenience quota method, was assessed for sociodemographic, academic, economic, and psychological variables using self-report instruments.The data were collected between November 2022 and February 2023.Descriptive, two-factor ANCOVAs, and MANCOVAs, controlling for the study cycle (bachelor, master), were conducted.Regarding the type of institution, the findings showed that there were more displaced students in public universities, while private universities had more working students.Students from public universities showed greater adaptation difficulties in several domains.Although students from private institutions reported higher monthly expenses, no differences were found regarding economic difficulties or in the perception of income decrease in the last two years.No differences were found in the levels of academic self-efficacy, academic exhaustion, social connectedness to the campus, or dropout intentions between students from public and private universities.Working students showed higher economic difficulties than non-working students.No interaction effects were found between type of institution and work status.These findings provide valuable insights into the profiles of university students in both public and private institutions in a post-pandemic context.Many students in both public and private institutions work part-time or full-time to afford their education because of the rising cost of living.However, being a working student does not seem to imply greater academic exhaustion or association with dropout intentions, which may suggest a positive impact of this condition on academic performance and students' well-being.Further contributions to research and higher education stakeholders are discussed.