AIR '99 Abstract

Abstract

Trends in the Use of Need-based and Non-need
Financial Aid in American Colleges and Universities

Donald E. Heller
Thomas F. Nelson Laird
University of Michigan
Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education

39th Annual Association for Institutional Research Forum
June, 1999
Seattle, WA

This study combines data from a variety of sources to examine the use of need-based versus non-need financial aid in colleges and universities since the late 1980s. Descriptive and time-series analyses were used to examine differences in the use of these types of aid among varying institutional types, and to examine how the use of these types of aid has changed for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

The research questions addressed in the study include:

Since the late 1980s, what has been the volume nationally and within each state in the awarding of need-based and non-need aid for undergraduates from the three primary sources: institutions, the federal government, and state scholarship programs?
What are the institutional patterns (level, control, Carnegie classification, financial characteristics, student body characteristics) of colleges and universities that have increased their use of non-need aid (relative to need-based aid) in recent years?
What have been the changes in the awarding of need and non-need financial aid to students from different income and racial/ethnic backgrounds?
How is the rise in non-need aid likely to affect national, regional, and state college and university access and choice by students with different characteristics?

This research was supported by grants from the Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Michigan (#3636), and the Association for Institutional Research, Improving Institutional Research in Postsecondary Educational Institutions grant program (#98-104).

Abstract

Trends in the Use of Need-based and Non-need Financial Aid in American Colleges and Universities

Trends in the Use of Need-based and Non-need
Financial Aid in American Colleges and Universities