Chilean president Michelle Bachelet said that free higher education in Chile is "a right, and not a gift." This will go into effect in 2016 after more than three decades of students having to pay for their tuition in order to pursue higher education.

The President of Chile said in an official statement on Monday that the country has always viewed the pursuit of higher education as a right, and the administration believes in strongly moving ahead with granting the right of free education. Fox News Latino reports that this year, around 165,000 students will be enjoying the new measure.

Bachelet also said that she would have wanted to see more students enjoy the right to free higher education, but she remained firm and emphasized that she and her administration had to be "responsible because of the economic situation facing the country."

The Chilean president admitted in a report with La Razon that 2015 was her 'worst year' in office amidst reports of corruption surrounding the country. Last year marked an all-time low for the Chilean president's popularity. According to the report, Bachelet's popularity plummeted to 26% in the past year, and has only intensified amidst the corruption scandal surrounding her son, Sebastián Dávalos, in the so-called "Caval case."

In July 2015,  she admitted that she was struggling to deliver the reforms she promised during the 2013 election campaign by the time her term ends in 2018. Many Chileans hoped that the president's second term in office would rid Chile of the legacy of military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990.

"There is no question of giving up all hope of change, but we must accept reality," Bachelet said in a report with The Guardian. "We have fewer resources, and the ability of the state and our political system to achieve such far-reaching structural reforms, in so short a time, was undoubtedly overestimated."  

Chile's economy was projected to grow at less than 2.5 percent in 2015, and most Chileans anticipated a downward turn following the Chilean government's paralysis in 2014, where forces seemed confused as to which path to follow. Many of Bachelet's cabinet members pushed her to move forward with her promises of reforms.

Chile's economic growth is expected to drop in 2016, much like it did in the past year.

Bachelet urged students to "get a move on" because the Chilean government "will compensate your efforts so you can begin your university education."

Students can qualify for free higher education if they belong to to households whose income is not above 180,000 pesos (roughly $250) a month per family member.