Trends in Higher Education

This report provides the most recent and complete statistics available on student aid in the United States. Detailed historical data are available online at www.collegeboard.com/trends.

Trends in Student Aid was authored by College Board senior policy analyst Sandy Baum and consultants Kathleen Payea and Patricia Steele, with assistance from Jennifer Ma and senior adviser for student aid policy Kathleen Little.

Contact information for the authors:
Sandy Baum, sbaum@collegeboard.org
Kathleen Payea, kpayea@collegeboard.org
Patricia Steele, psteele@collegeboard.org

Trends in Student Aid and its companion report, Trends in College Pricing, are supplemented by this website that makes detailed data available for reference and downloading. PDF versions of these reports, along with PowerPoint slides of all of the graphs, are available on the Web: www.collegeboard.com/trends.

Additional hard copies of the report can be ordered online or via e-mail: trends@collegeboard.org. Tables, graphs, and data in this report or excerpts thereof may be reproduced or cited, for noncommercial purposes only, provided that the following attribution is included:

Source: Trends in Student Aid. © 2009 The College Board. www.collegeboard.com

Acknowledgments

The publication would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of many people at the College Board, including Tom Rudin, Sally Mitchell, Marilyn Cushman, Eleanor Vogelsang, Jonathan Van Arsdell and Edna DiFeo of the Washington Office. We would also like to thank Edna Johnson, the Marketing & Publication Services staff and the External Communications division. We are very grateful to Keryl Holman, Kimberly Gray Fess and the staff at Hawthorne Visual for their expert graphic design assistance.

We are grateful to all of those who contributed to the data collection for this publication, including state agency and special-aid program contacts, private lenders and experts from the U.S. Department of Education. Special thanks to Dan Madzelan, Mary Miller, Donald Conner, Greg Gerrans and Frank Morgan of the U.S. Department of Education, as well as Mike Solomon of the Illinois Student Aid Commission, Amy Weinstein of the National Scholarship Provider’s Association, Chris Hunter of the National Association of State Treasurers and Tim Ranzetta of Student Lending Analytics for their assistance.

The College Board

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board is composed of more than 5,600 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,800 colleges through major programs and services in college readiness, college admission, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT® and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities and concerns.

The Washington Office of the College Board conducts research relevant to public policy issues in education. The office is located at 1233 20th Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036-2375. Phone: 202-741-4700.

For further information, visit www.collegeboard.com.

©2009 The College Board. College Board, Advanced Placement Program, AP, SAT and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. inspiring minds is a trademark owned by the College Board. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. All other products and services may be trademarks of their respective owners.