Trends in Higher Education

Data Definitions

Federally Supported Programs:

Several of the federally supported programs include small amounts of funding from sources other than the federal government. For example, Federal Work-Study (FWS) includes contributions by institutions and off-campus employers although most of the funds in the program are federal. Perkins Loans are funded from federal and institutional capital contributions as well as collections from borrowers. Since FY 2006, no funds have been appropriated for new federal capital contributions. Institutional matching funds required by the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program since 1989-90 are reported under institutional grants.

  • LEAP. Formerly known as the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) program, the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) monies reported under federally supported aid include federal monies only; the state share is included in the state grant category.
  • Veterans. Benefits are payments for postsecondary education and training to veterans and their dependents.
  • Military. Includes educational expenditures under the F. Edward Hebert Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program; Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs for the Air Force, Army, and Navy/Marines; and higher education tuition assistance for the active duty Armed Forces.
  • Other Grants. Includes Higher Education Grants for Indian Students; American Indian Scholarships; Indian Health Service Scholarships; National Science Foundation predoctoral fellowships (minority and general graduate); National Health Service Corps Scholarships; National Institutes of Health predoctoral individual awards; the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program; and college grants provided to volunteers in the AmeriCorps national service programs (funding began in 1994-95).
  • Stafford, PLUS, and Perkins Loans. Data provided by the Department of Education on education loan disbursements. Prior to 2007, Trends in Student Aid reported loan commitments, a larger number than disbursements including some loans approved but never disbursed. Earlier data have been adjusted to reflect only disbursements.
  • Other Loans. Includes loans from the Health Professions Student Loan Program, Disadvantaged Student Loans, and the Nursing Student Loan Program.
  • Education Tax Benefits. Data on education tax credits are IRS estimates of the volume of Hope and Lifetime Learning credits claimed on taxable returns for tax years 1988 and later. Tax deductions are based on IRS Statistics of Income, with associated savings estimated by the College Board based on the marginal tax rates applied to the taxable income of the taxpayers in each income bracket claiming the deduction. Amounts are attributed to the academic year beginning in the calendar year during which the tax benefit was claimed. Estimates for 2008 are based on earlier data.

Subsidized Stafford Loans: Need-based student loans for which the federal government pays the interest while the student is in school and during a six-month grace period thereafter.

Unsubsidized Stafford Loans: Non-need-based student loans guaranteed by the federal government but with interest accruing during the in-school time period.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Students: Enrollment numbers based on a federal formula that counts each part-time student as equivalent to one-third of a full-time student.

Graduate and Undergraduate Aid: The breakdown of aid between undergraduate and graduate students is estimated based on the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) when not available from other sources.

Loan Totals: Nonfederal loans from private lenders are included in Table 1 as an important source of funding for students, but are not considered financial aid because they provide no subsidy to students. Figures 1, 6, 8, and 10 include nonfederal loans to give a more complete picture of student borrowing. Figures 2a, 2b, 11a and 11b measure financial aid amounts and therefore exclude nonfederal loans..

Inflation Adjustment: The Consumer Price Index for all urban dwellers (CPI-U) is used to adjust for inflation. We use the CPI-U in July of the year in which the academic year begins. See ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt for changes in the CPI-U over time.

Sources

Campus-Based Aid (FWS, Perkins, and FSEOG) and ACG/SMART Grants: U.S. Department of Education, Annual Federal Program Databooks.

Debt for Graduate and Undergraduate Students: Data come from the NPSAS, 2004 and 2008.

Education Tax Benefits: Income Tax Returns, All Returns, Tables 1.3, 1.4, and 3.3 and additional Statistics of Income sources.

Federal Family Education Loan and Ford Direct Student Loan Programs: Unpublished data from the U.S. Department of Education, Policy, Budget, and Analysis staff and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Enrollment: Based on unpublished computations by Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) staff at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Institutional Grants: Estimates based on IPEDS data through FY 2007 and data from the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges. These figures represent best approximations and are updated each year as additional information becomes available.

LEAP and State Grant Programs: Estimates based on an annual College Board survey of all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 1988-89 to 2007-08: 20th through 39th Annual Survey Reports of the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs. LEAP figures are from unpublished data from the LEAP program manager at the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Business Operations.

Military: F. Edward Hebert Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship amounts from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Defense (Health Affairs). ROTC program data from the Air Force, Army and Navy program offices.

Nonfederal Loans: Estimates based on an informal annual College Board survey of major private education loan providers, supplemented by data from annual reports, from NPSAS, 2008 and from Student Lending Analytics, and on information collected from staff of state-sponsored private loan programs or state grant agencies.

Other Grants and Loans: Data collected through conversations and correspondence with the officials of the agencies that sponsor the programs.

Pell Grant Program: Data from Policy, Budget, and Analysis Staff, U.S. Department of Education. Other data from Pell Grant End-of-Year Reports.

Private and Employer Grants: Estimates based on data included in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) and on National Scholarship Provider’s Association surveys of major private student grant providers, supplemented by information from annual reports of selected scholarship providers and data from institutional financial aid offices.

State Savings Plans: Data on assets in state savings plans and guaranteed tuition plans were provided by the National Association of State Treasurers/ College Savings Plans Network.

Veterans Benefits: Benefits Program series (annual publication for each fiscal year), Office of Budget and Finance, U.S. Veterans Administration and unpublished data from the same agency.




Notes: The Consumer Price Index for all urban dwellers (CPI-U) is used to adjust for inflation. Updated CPI data are available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site (ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt). Multiplication of a current-year figure by the associated factor will yield a constant-dollar result. There are separate sets of inflation factors used because the most recent data in Trends in Student Aid 2009 are for the 2008-09 academic year, while the data in Trends in College Pricing 2009 extend to 2009-10. Most values in Trends in Student Aid are in 2008 dollars, while most values in Trends in College Pricing have been converted to 2009 dollars.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt

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