This study analyzed how student permanence policies were implemented in high-level professional technical education courses at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Pará - IFPA Abaetetuba Campus in the period 2012-2017, policies linked to the National Student Assistance Program - PNAES. It was found that such policies were born within public higher education institutions, from the demands of social movements and student representative bodies in the 1980s, and were influenced by international organizations and neoliberal precepts of the decade. At Abaetetuba Campus, it is identified actions to implement the policy, through selection processes, with emphasis on the priority actions established by the PNAES decree: food, transportation and housing, in addition to actions related to the support to the participation in events, scientific initiation, extension, health support; it exceeds the policy in the provision of school bus to assist students in accessing the institution, through the campus' own resources. It is revealed limitations in the implementation of the policy, and that the actions influence the permanence of students.