Juan Carlos de la Llera, rector of the Pontificia Universidad Católica (UC), and Carlos Peña, rector of the Universidad Diego Portales (UDP), defended opposing positions throughout October on the reduction in university and science funding proposed in the 2027 Budget bill of José Antonio Kast's government.
According to T13, De la Llera is leading the criticism as president of the G9, the group of non-state public universities that belong to the Consejo de Rectores (Council of Rectors). Peña, who is also a columnist, argues that in times of fiscal constraint the State must prioritize those who are worst off, such as preschool-age children.
The numbers under discussion are concrete. The bill cuts the Aporte Fiscal Directo (AFD, direct state funding) by 3% for G9 universities and the Basal por Desempeño (performance-based core funding) by 10.6%. It also limits the use of surpluses from the Fondo Solidario de Crédito Universitario (university student loan solidarity fund).
State universities also lose resources. Their Aporte Institucional (institutional funding) falls 11.4% and the Plan de Fortalecimiento (strengthening plan) drops 34.8%. On top of that comes a 6.4% cut to the Ministerio de Ciencia (Ministry of Science) compared with the comparable 2026 baseline, as De la Llera told the Congreso Nacional (Chile's legislature).
The UC rector's first offensive came on October 7. That day he wrote to the Cuarta Subcomisión Mixta de Presupuestos (Fourth Joint Budget Subcommittee), chaired by Christian Democrat senator Yasna Provoste, and asked it to reject the higher education budget item as presented by the Executive.
In that letter, De la Llera stated: "No reasonable public policy punishes performance." According to his figures, G9 universities produce 45% of the country's scientific output and are taking a double blow, from the reduced funding and from the smaller Science budget.
The rector added that the regulated tuition fees under the free-tuition program do not cover what degree programs actually cost. "A country that aspires to development cannot weaken its universities in the name of a short-term adjustment," he warned.
Peña responded from a different angle on October 11, in his column "El debate presupuestario" (The budget debate), published in El Mercurio. Although he did not name De la Llera, he argued that the discussion is about what society values and what it is willing to give up to achieve it.
To explain this, he compared two paths: allocating more money to nurseries for the children of working mothers, or sustaining and expanding university funding. In his view, the disadvantages of childhood can leave more serious and lasting marks than a frustrated adult vocation.
The UDP rector also criticized each participant in the debate for presenting their particular interest as the most important for the country. "An impartial decision requires a global view of what is best for everyone," he wrote.
Education Minister María Paz Arzola used a similar argument to justify the adjustment. She said the government decided to prioritize early childhood education, the stage in which about 90% of brain development takes place, and argued that funding for nurseries had stagnated while higher education funding doubled in a decade.
On Wednesday, October 14, on Tele13 Radio, De la Llera agreed that supporting preschool education is essential, but rejected funding it at the expense of universities. According to him, "there are other ways to do it," and he acknowledged that the budget requires balancing areas such as security and health.
Peña returned to the topic on Thursday, October 15, with a second column, "El presupuesto y los peor situados" (The budget and the worst off). There he insisted that prioritizing one expense means sacrificing another, and that with scarce resources one must decide which needs weigh more. The higher education budget item remains in the hands of Congress.
