June 2010

NPSAS:2008 Data Analysis System updated with new and revised variables

Download list of new and revised NPSAS:2008 variables. (PDF, 282KB)

February 2010

NPSAS:08 Student employment and remedial course variables were revised and new variables added

In the NPSAS:08 undergraduate DAS, the variables pertaining to student employment have been revised to correct the underestimates of students working full time and considering themselves to be primarily employees rather than students. For example, the estimated percentage of undergraduates considering themselves to be primarily employees (JOBROLE2) has been increased from 15 percent to 24 percent, the percentage working 35 or more hours per week (JOBENR2) has been increased from 26 percent to 34 percent, the average hours per week worked (JOBHOUR2) has been increased from 27 to 30 hours, and the average earnings per year (JOBEARN2) have been increased from $10,700 to $14,400. The employment variables will also be revised for the NPSAS:08 graduate DAS in the near future.

The variables for whether the student took remedial courses in 2007-08 (REMETOOK) and the number of remedial courses taken in 2007-08 (REMENUM) have been revised to include all undergraduates in the denominator. REMETOOK is now consistent with how the variable was coded in NPSAS:04. To restrict the denominator to include only first- and second-year students and those who were not in a degree program, use the variable REMETK2, Remedial courses: took in 2007-08 (1st and 2nd year students).

There has also been a minor revision to Undergraduate degree program (UGDEG). A few cases were recoded, causing no impact on the estimates. New variables have been added for net price, aid ratio, high school curriculum, college majors, and institution types.

December 2009

The weights in the NPSAS:1996 and NPSAS:2000 Data Analysis System files have been revised

The NPSAS:1996 and NPSAS:2000 weights were revised in order to make the federal Stafford loan estimates comparable across the various cycles of NPSAS. In early 2010, NCES will release a set of Web Tables with estimates of trends in undergraduate Stafford loan borrowing based on the revised weights in the data sets.

In NPSAS:1996, NPSAS:2000, and NPSAS:2004 the original weights were adjusted to sum to the total of Stafford loan gross commitments. In NPSAS:2008, however, the weights were adjusted to sum to the total Stafford loan net disbursements, which is the amount that students actually received after cancellations. The revised weights for NPSAS:1996, NPSAS:2000, and NPSAS:2004 (revised in June 2009) have now all been adjusted to sum to the actual net Stafford loan amounts disbursed and are now all comparable to the NPSAS:2008 Stafford loan data.

There has been no change in the NPSAS:1990 and NPSAS:1993 weights, because those cycles of NPSAS did not adjust to Stafford loan totals.

The revised NPSAS:1996 and NPSAS:2000 weights will produce estimates that differ from the estimates in any tables or publications produced before December 2009. Using the revised weights has the largest effect on the estimates of the average Stafford loan amounts, and therefore on the averages of all composite financial aid variables that include Stafford loans, such as total loans, total aid, and cumulative loans.

For undergraduates, applying the revised weights reduced the average Stafford loan amount by about $300 in 1995-96 and reduced the average Stafford loan amount by about $500 in 1999-2000. The average amount of total aid in those years was reduced by about one-half of these amounts. There were only minor changes in average grant amounts. However, the revised weights will result in some changes in the estimates for nearly all variables in NPSAS:1996 and NPSAS:2000, although the differences are usually very small.

To learn more about NPSAS, please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas/.

July 2009

NPSAS 2008 and prior years Student Loan Comparisons

Data users who plan to compare student loan estimates from NPSAS:08 with prior years should be aware that the data on Stafford loans are currently only directly comparable with NPSAS:04.

NCES surveys use weights to inflate sample results to population totals. For NPSAS:08, weights for student loan data were based on total Stafford loan net disbursements, or the amount that students actually received after cancellations (about $57 billion in 2007-08). For NPSAS:04, the weights were based originally on Stafford loan gross commitments (about $48 billion in 2003-04). The equivalent net disbursements for NPSAS:04 were about $42 billion.

In 2008 NCES shifted its weighting procedure from gross commitments to net disbursements because it concluded that net disbursements provide a more accurate measure of student loan amounts applied to the cost of attendance than gross commitments. In June of 2009 NPSAS:04 weights were adjusted to sum to the total Stafford loan net disbursements, making them comparable to NPSAS:08.

The revised NPSAS:04 weights will produce estimates that differ from the estimates in any tables and publications produced before June 2009. Using the revised weights has the largest effect on estimates of average Stafford loan amounts, and therefore on estimates of averages of all composite financial aid variables that include Stafford loans, such as total loans, total aid, and cumulative loans. For undergraduates, the revised NPSAS:04 weights reduced the average Stafford loan amount by about $600, reduced the average total loan amount by about $500, reduced the average amount of total aid by about $300, and reduced the cumulative amount ever borrowed by about $800. There were only minor changes in average grant amounts. While the revised weights result in some changes in the estimates for nearly all variables in NPSAS:04, the differences are usually very small.

Revised weights for NPSAS:2000 will be made available in September 2009. Revised weights for NPSAS:1996 will become available in October 2009. Until these weights are provided, loan comparisons between earlier NPSAS data and NPSAS 2004 or 2008 should be avoided.

The revised weights will be announced at the NPSAS website and at the DAS website .

June 2009

NPSAS:2008 Data Analysis System updated with new and revised variables

NPSAS:2008 is available for creating Tables and estimating Covariance Analyses.

NPSAS:08 Undergraduate DAS New and Revised Variables

NPSAS:08 Graduate DAS New and Revised Variables