Objetive: This article presents the mode of distance education as a possibility of social and digital inclusion. As of 2006, with the distance education regulation in federal institutions of higher education, it was possible to have a significant expansion in the number of vacancies offered, and the long-distance education, previously seen as a marginalized and unrecognized education, now presents itself as a concrete possibility of a quality education. The objective of the article was to identify how access to Distance Higher Education can contribute to the social and digital inclusion process of people located in small towns in the Northeast. Methods: For this, the quantitative-qualitative research was carried out with 42 students of the degree course in Agrarian Sciences of the Universidade Federal da Paraiba. The instrument of data collection was a mixed online questionnaire (with closed and open questions), adopting a sample for convenience. Results: It can be seen that EAD can become one of the most appropriate options for some people who have limiting factors, such as full-time work, absence of time for exclusive dedication to graduation, or reside in places that do not have proximity to traditional public universities. Conclusions: The students still perceive that there is prejudice or discrimination in society by taking a distance course, but recognize that they feel socially included, expect to be incorporated by the labor market, and do not believe that there is a distinction between companies in relation to EAD.
