New Report Details Federal Grant, Student Loan Trends

During the 2005–06 academic year, 75 percent of the 2.7 million full-time undergraduates pursuing a program certification or a bachelor’s degree for the first time received one or more types of financial aid, according to a new report on enrollment in postsecondary institutions by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The report focused on data supplied by Title IV institutions, schools that must comply with government-mandated rules regarding federal financial aid. Authors of the report found that 37 percent of undergraduates received federal grants, 28 percent received state or local grants, 29 percent received institutional grants, and 46 percent had taken out student loans.

The pattern of aid distribution varied depending on the type of school students attended.

At private nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, 60 percent of undergraduates took out college loans and 75 percent had institutional grants. Some 44 percent of students at public four-year schools took out student loans and 34 percent had institutional grants. While at public two-year colleges only 18 percent of undergraduates borrowed student loans and 11 percent received grants from their schools.

NCES researchers found that borrowing was highest at for-profit institutions, where 67 percent of undergraduate students at four-year colleges and universities and 73 percent of those at two-year schools took out student loans.

The NCES report was compiled using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which collects data from all schools that receive federal funds.

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