Overview

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is a comprehensive nationwide study designed to determine how students and their families pay for postsecondary education, and to describe some demographic and other characteristics of those enrolled. The study is based on a nationally representative sample of students in postsecondary education institutions, including undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional students. Students attending all types and levels of institutions are represented, including public and private not-for-profit and for-profit institutions, and less-than-2-year institutions, community colleges, and 4-year colleges and universities. The NPSAS studies are designed to address policy questions resulting from the rapid growth of financial aid programs and the succession of changes in financial aid program policies since 1986. The first NPSAS study was conducted during the 1986-87 school year; subsequent studies have been carried out during the 1989-90, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1999-2000, and 2003-04 school years (i.e., NPSAS:90, NPSAS:93, NPSAS:96, NPSAS:2000, and NPSAS:04).

Each of the NPSAS surveys provided information on the cost of postsecondary education, the distribution of financial aid, and the characteristics of both aided and nonaided students and their families. Following each survey, NCES publishes three major reports, Undergraduate Financing of Postsecondary Education, Student Financing of Graduate and Professional Education, and Profile of Undergraduates in U.S Postsecondary Education Institutions. NCES is currently in the midst of the 2007-08 NPSAS.