National Postsecondary Student Aid Study:

Student Financial Aid Estimates for 1995-96

August 1997

Highlights

All estimates presented in this tabulation are based on students participating in the 1996 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study is a comprehensive study designed to describe characteristics of students, including how students and their families pay for postsecondary education. It includes nationally representative samples of undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional students; students attending less-than-2-year, 2-year, 4-year, and doctoral-granting institutions; students who receive financial aid as well as those who do not receive aid.

The estimates in this tabulation are based on more than 48,000 undergraduate and graduate students’ information from institution financial aid and admissions records, and computer-assisted telephone interviews, and the Department of Education’s administrative files. The sample represents about 16.7 million undergraduates, 2.4 million graduate and 320,000 first-professional students enrolled during 1995-96. Unless otherwise noted, all average amounts of aid described in the highlights and presented in the tables are based on recipients of that source of aid. Highlights are presented separately for undergraduates and graduate and first-professional students.

AMONG THE 16.7 MILLION UNDERGRADUATES (INCLUDING FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME STUDENTS) ENROLLED DURING 1995-96:

Fifty percent of undergraduates (about 8.3 million) received some type of financial aid; averaging $4,926 [Tables 1, 2].
Overall, about three out of eight undergraduates (37 percent) received some type of federal aid [Table 3].
Percentages of undergraduates receiving federal aid varied, depending on family income and the type of institution. Among dependent students, percentages ranged from about 63 percent of undergraduates from families with incomes less than $20,000 to about 14 percent of undergraduates from families with incomes of $100,000 or more. Among independent students, 59 percent of those with incomes less than $10,000 received some federal financial aid [Table 3].
The percentage of undergraduates receiving federal aid ranged from 16 percent of students at public less-than-2-year institutions to 71 percent of undergraduates enrolled at private for-profit, 2-year or higher institutions [Table 3].
Forty-three percent of undergraduates at private not-for-profit 4-year institutions received some institutional aid, averaging about $5,150. Sixteen percent of undergraduates at public 4-year institutions received some institutional aid, averaging about $2,160 [Table 3, 4].
Nearly 1 of every 5 dependent undergraduates (19 percent) came from families making less than $20,000 [Table 5]. Among Title IV aid recipients who were dependent on their families for financial support, 30 percent had incomes less than $20,000 [Table 6].
One of every two independent undergraduates (52 percent) who received Title IV aid, had family incomes less than $10,000 [Table 7].
One of every five undergraduates (22 percent) received a federally subsidized Stafford loan, averaging $3,114. One of every ten received an unsubsidized Stafford loan, averaging $2,925 [Table 8, 9].
Among the recipients enrolled in private not-for-profit, doctorate-granting institutions, the average Title IV loan amount was $4,802. At private not-for-profit, non-doctorate-granting 4-year institutions, the average received was $4,322 [Table 9].
Fifty-two percent of students enrolled in private for-profit less-than-2-year institutions received a Title IV loan; the average received was $3,857 [Table 8, 9].
Among students enrolled full-time for the full year, 30 percent received a federal Pell grant, averaging $1,776 [Table 10, 11].

AMONG THE 2.8 MILLION GRADUATE AND FIRST-PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS (INCLUDING FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME STUDENTS) ENROLLED DURING 1995-96:

About one of every two graduate/first-professional students received some financial aid averaging $9,814 [Table 13, 14].
Overall, 25 percent received some institutional aid, averaging $6,503; but this varied considerably depending on the type of program. Twenty-two percent of students in Master’s degree programs compared to 42 percent of students in doctorate or first-professional degree programs received some institution aid [Table 13, 14].

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For more information about the content of this report, contact Andrew Malizio at Andrew.Malizio@ed.gov.