Statistical Analysis Report:

Characteristics of Students Who Borrow to Finance Their Postsecondary Education

November 1994

Highlights

This report uses data from the 1989–90 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:90) to examine the use of loans to finance postsecondary education. For undergraduates and graduate and first-professional students separately, it looks at variation in borrowing by student and institutional characteristics, compares the characteristics of borrowers and nonborrowers, and examines borrowing in relation to need and other financial aid. Some of the highlights are as follows:

Undergraduates

Of the 16.3 million undergraduates enrolled in the 1989–90 academic year, 19 percent borrowed an average of $2,800 through student loan programs. Thirty percent of those who were enrolled full time for the full academic year borrowed (also an average of $2,800).

The percentage who borrowed through student loan programs varied considerably by type of institution. Among undergraduates enrolled full time for the full year, it ranged from a low of 13 percent at public less-than-4-year institutions to a high of 69 percent at private, for-profit institutions.

By the time they graduated, 50 percent of undergraduates at public 4-year institutions had borrowed an average of about $6,700 (including amounts borrowed from family, friends, and other sources as well as through financial aid loan programs). Fifty-four percent of those at private, not-for-profit 4-year institutions had borrowed an average of about $10,600.

Undergraduates who borrowed $2,000 or more through student loan programs were concentrated in the most costly institutions. Private, for-profit institutions had only 9 percent of the enrollment but 31 percent of the $2,000-or-more borrowers; and private, not-for-profit 4-year institutions had 14 percent of the enrollment but 28 percent of the $2,000-or-more borrowers.

Participation in student loan programs occurred at all income levels: 11 percent of full-time, full-year undergraduates who borrowed $2,000 or more in 1989–90 came from families with incomes of $50,000 or more.

For undergraduates participating in student loan programs, loans averaged 59 percent of their total aid (that is, all grants, loans, and work study), but the average ranged from 46 percent at private, not-for-profit 4-year institutions to 68 percent at private, for-profit institutions.

Graduate and First-Professional Students

Of the 2.3 million graduate and first-professional students enrolled in 1989–90, 17 percent borrowed an average of $8,600 through student loan programs. Considering only those who attended full time, full year, 40 percent borrowed.

Students enrolled in first-professional programs were the most likely to participate in student loan programs: 60 percent borrowed, compared with 12 percent of those enrolled in master’s degree programs, 12 percent of those enrolled in doctoral degree programs, and 8 percent of those enrolled in other graduate programs.

For those who borrowed through student loan programs, loans averaged 79 percent of total financial aid at the master’s level, 59 percent at the doctoral level, 86 percent at the first-professional level, and 83 percent in other graduate programs.

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For more information about the content of this report, contact Aurora D'Amico at Aurora.D'Amico@ed.gov.