• Introduction
• Undergraduates
• Graduate and FirstProfessional Students

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is 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.

This report has been prepared to provide some key estimates as policymakers, researchers, and analysts begin working on research for the next reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. It is based on information from about 50,000 undergraduates, 11,000 graduate students, and 1,000 first-professional students enrolled at approximately 1,000 postsecondary institutions during the 1999–2000 academic year. The sample represents about 16.5 million undergraduates, 2.3 million graduate students, and 330,000 first-professional students enrolled at any time between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2000. Considerably more detail on how students finance their postsecondary education and student background characteristics will be published in subsequent reports.

Estimates in this report focus primarily on percentages of students receiving specified types of financial aid, and average amounts of specific types of financial aid received. Unless otherwise noted, all average amounts of financial aid described here and presented in the tables reflect the weighted means and are based only on the recipients of the specified types of aid. Highlights are presented separately for undergraduates and graduate and firstprofessional students.

• Among the 16.5 million undergraduates (including fulltime and parttime 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 per-cent 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 (tables A and B).
• 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 (table A).
• Percentages of undergraduates receiving federal aid ranged from 21 percent at public 2-year institutions to 80 percent at private for-profit institutions.

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

• About one of every eight dependent undergraduates (13 percent) came from families with incomes less than $20,000. Among Title IV aid recipients who were dependent on their parents for financial support, 21 percent had family incomes less than $20,000. Three of every eight independent undergraduates (38 percent) who received Title IV aid had family incomes less than $10,000.
• 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 the Title IV loan recipients enrolled in private notforprofit doctorategranting institutions, the average loan amount was $5,161. At private not-for-profit non-doctorate-granting 4-year institutions, the average received was $5,095.
• Among the Title IV loan recipients enrolled in public doctorategranting institutions, the average student loan amount was $4,743. At public non-doctorate-granting 4-year institutions, the average received was $4,225.
• Fifty-four percent of students enrolled in private forprofit less-than-2-year institutions received a Title IV loan; the average received was $4,879.
• 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.

• Among the 2.7 million graduate and first-professional students (including fulltime and parttime students) enrolled during 1999–2000, about 6 of every 10 students received some financial aid, averaging $13,255. Eight of every 10 full-time, full-year students (82 percent) received some type of financial aid, averaging almost $19,600. First-professional students received an average of about $21,500 (tables C and D).

• Overall, 29 percent of graduate and first-professional students received Stafford loans, averaging nearly $12,850. Average amounts borrowed varied considerably by degree program. About 73 percent of first-professional students took out Stafford loans, compared to 26 percent of master's degree students and 21 percent of doctoral students.

• Overall, 27 percent of graduate and first-professional students received some institutional aid, averaging about $9,840, but this varied considerably depending on the type of program. For example, 22 percent of students in master's degree programs compared to 58 percent of students in doctoral degree programs received some institutional aid.

• About one in four master's degree students received employer aid, averaging about $3,840. About 11 percent of doctoral students and 5 percent of first-professional students received employer aid.

Table A.—Percentage of undergraduates receiving selected types of federal, institutional, or state aid: 1999–2000

Table B.—Average amounts of selected types of federal, institutional, or state aid received by undergraduates: 1999–2000

Table C.—Percentage of graduate and first-professional students receiving selected types of financial aid: 1999–2000

Table D.—Average amounts of selected types of aid received by graduate and first–professional students: 1999–2000