Response:
NCES sponsors the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a comprehensive survey that examines how students and their families pay for postsecondary education. The study includes nationally representative samples of undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional students; students attending less-than-2-year, 2-year, 4-year, and doctorate-granting institutions; and students who receive financial aid and those who do not receive aid.

Highlights from two recent NCES publications featuring NPSAS data, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: Student Financial Aid Estimates for 1999-2000 and Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 1999-2000, include the following:

• Among the 16.5 million undergraduates (including full-time and part-time students) enrolled during 1999–2000, 55 percent (about 9.2 million) received some type of financial aid, averaging $6,206.



• Among aided undergraduates, 40 percent received grants only; 13 percent received loans only; 26 percent received grants and loans; 8 percent received grants, loans, and work-study; and the remaining 13 percent received other combinations of aid.



• Overall, about two out of five undergraduates (39 percent) received some type of federal aid, averaging about $5,230.



• Percentages of undergraduates receiving federal aid varied depending on family income and type of institution. Among dependent students, percentages receiving federal aid ranged from 70 percent of undergraduates from families with incomes of less than $20,000 to about 25 percent of undergraduates from families with incomes of $100,000 or more. Among independent students, 66 percent of those with incomes less than $10,000 received some federal financial aid.



• Forty-seven percent of undergraduates at private not-for-profit 4-year institutions received some institutional aid, averaging about $6,760.



• Among undergraduates enrolled full time for the full year at one institution, about 30 percent received a federal Pell grant, averaging $2,314.



• Nearly one of every four undergraduates (23 percent) received a federally subsidized Stafford loan, averaging about $3,214.



• Among full-time, full-year undergraduates, about 40 percent of those at public 2-year institutions, 56 percent of those at public 4-year institutions, and 67 percent of those at private not-for-profit 4-year institutions received some Title IV financial aid.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2001). National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: Student Financial Aid Estimates for 1999-2000 (NCES 2001-209); U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 1999-2000 (NCES 2002-167).

Related Tables and Figures: (Listed by Release Date)

• 2003, Digest of Education Statistics, 2002: Average amount of financial aid awarded in 1999-2000 to full-time, full-year students, by type and source of aid and selected student characteristics

• 2003, Digest of Education Statistics, 2002: Full-time, full-year postbaccalaureate students, by type of aid, level of study and control and type of institution: 1992-93, 1995-96, and 1999-2000

• 2003, Digest of Education Statistics, 2002: Percent of full-time, full-year undergraduates receiving aid, by type and source of aid received, and by control and level of institution: 1992-93, 1995-96, and 1999-2000

• 2003, The Condition of Education 2003: Federal grants and loans

• 2000, The Condition of Education 2000: Financial preparation for postsecondary education

• 2003, What Colleges Contribute: Institutional Aid to Full-Time Undergraduates Attending 4-Year Colleges and Universities

• 2002, Federal Support for Education: Fiscal Years 1980-2002

• 2002, Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 1999-2000

• 2002, What Students Pay for College: Changes in Net Price of College Attendance Between 1992-93 and 1999-2000

• 2001, Middle Income Undergraduates: Where They Enroll and How They Pay for Their Education

• 2001, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: Student Financial Aid Estimates for 1999-2000

• 2001, Study of College Costs and Prices, 1988-89 to 1997-98

• 2001, Undergraduates Enrolled With Higher Sticker Prices

• 2000, Financial Aid Profile of Graduate Students in Science and Engineering

• 2000, Low-Income Students: Who They Are and How They Pay for Their Education

• 1999, Employer Aid for Postsecondary Education

• 1999, State Aid For Undergraduates in Postsecondary Education