In 1995–96, one-half of middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with financial need received loans, accounting for 42 percent of their aid, while 52 percent received grants, accounting for 44 percent of their aid, with work-study and other types of aid providing the remaining aid (see Types of aid figure).

Institutional grants constituted the most common source of grant aid for middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with financial need, as well as those in the higher income group. The percentages of FTFY dependent undergraduates with need who received institutional grants, as well as the average institutional awards that they received, were about the same for each family-income level. In each income category, larger percentages of FTFY dependent undergraduates with need received institutional grants if they were enrolled at the highest price-of-attendance level. At the highest price-of-attendance level, about two-thirds of those with need in the lower and middle income groups received institutional grants, compared with 46 percent of those in the higher income group. In addition, the average award was smaller for those in the higher income group. Institutional grants constituted an important component of financial aid packages that assisted in providing access at the highest price-of-attendance level, especially for lower and middle income undergraduates.

Overall, middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with financial need were about as likely to borrow as their lower income counterparts, and the amounts they borrowed were about the same, but they were more likely to borrow than were their higher income counterparts. The percentage of middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with need who borrowed was larger at each price-of-attendance level. For those with no financial need, the percentage borrowing was larger than the percentage borrowing from the higher income group.