This article develops an empirical typology of traditional and non-traditional students in a university degree program with non-selective academic access and with a wide range of alternatives for financing their studies. The data come from an analysis tool applied to the Social Work degree program at a Chilean university. Based on dummy variables, a cluster analysis was carried out (using k-medians) and the results showed five clusters presenting a complex composition related to the heterogeneity of the student body in a highly overcrowded university system, where the variables concerning the age of access to the university and the performance in work activities do not determine the conformation of the subsets; this setting implies a challenge for the institution implementing academic processes centered on the diversity of actors as a paradigm of teaching and learning. © 2025 Consejo Mexicano de Investigacion Educativa. All rights reserved.
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