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Characteristics of Dependent Middle Income Undergraduates Examined in NCES Report

The NCES report, Middle Income Undergraduates: Where They Enroll and How They Pay for Their Education, examines the characteristics of dependent middle-income undergraduates who attended college full-time, full-year, and how they paid for their education. It compares these undergraduates with their lower and higher income counterparts. It examines strategies that these middle income undergraduates might have used to meet the gap between financial aid and financial need (unmet need). The report also looks at how they filled the gap between price of attendance and the amount of financial aid they received (out-of-pocket costs). Data are shown separately for those with financial need and no financial need, and by price of attendance.

The data source for the report was the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:96). The report is limited to full-time, full-year (FTFY) dependent undergraduates who were enrolled during the 1995-96 academic year. Middle-income undergraduates are defined as those with family incomes between $35,000 and $69,999 in 1994.

Highlights from the report include:

• Four out of five (79%) middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates demonstrated some federal financial aid need, compared with almost all of those in the lower income category (99%) and one-third of those in the higher income category.
• Middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates had 31 percent of their price of attendance covered by financial aid, and more than one-half (58%) had unmet need after financial aid and EFC.
• Thirty-two percent of middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with unmet need did not apply for financial aid. Reasons include a belief that family income was too high (32%), or that the family or student could afford to pay (48%).
• Average student earnings were lower for those in the middle income group enrolled at the highest-price-of-attendance level than at the other price-of-attendance levels.
• Net price minus student earnings was $8,919 for middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates enrolled at the highest-price-of-attendance level, while average EFC was $7,024.
• Fifty percent of middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with financial need received loans, accounting for 42% of their aid, while 54% received grants, accounting for 44% of their aid, with work-study aid and other aid types providing the remaining aid.
• Overall, middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates with need in 1995-96 borrowed at rates and amounts that were about the same as those with need in the lower income group.
• Institutional grants made up the most common source of grant aid for middle income FTFY dependent undergraduates, as well as for those in the higher income group.

Posted July 3, 2001, on the NASFAA Web Site www.nasfaa.org