During the 2006-07 academic year, more than $130 billion in financial aid was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students in the form of grants from all sources and federal loans, work-study, and tax credits and deductions. In addition, these students borrowed more than $18 billion from state and private sources to help finance their education.
• Total student aid increased by about 82 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars over the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-07. Aid to undergraduate and graduate students increased at similar rates.
• Loans have declined from 76 percent to 69 percent of total federal aid over the decade, as education tax credits and deductions have come to constitute 7 percent of federal aid to students.
• The increase in grant dollars between 1996-97 and 2006-07 covered an average of about a third of the increase in private college tuition and fees and half of the increase in average public four-year college tuition and fees. The increase in total aid, including both grant aid from all sources and federal loans, covered about two-thirds of the increase in tuition and fees at private four-year colleges and almost all of the increase in tuition and fees (but none of the additional increase in costs of attendance) at public four-year institutions.
Grant Aid
Grant aid from all sources averaged $4,648 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student—$4,218 per undergraduate (90 percent of all FTE students) and $8,343 per graduate student (10 percent of all FTE students).
• Total grant dollars to undergraduates increased by 7 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars between 2005-06 and 2006-07, and grant dollars to graduate students increased slightly more. Grant aid per student increased by 4 percent over the same period.
• The number of Pell Grant recipients increased by 41 percent, from 3.7 million to 5.2 million, over the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-07, after growing 38 percent the preceding decade.
• In 2005, 36 percent of all Pell Grant recipients were age 26 or older and 59 percent were independent of their parents. Among dependent Pell Grant recipients, two-thirds came from families with incomes below $30,000.
• Total Pell Grant expenditures, which rose by 73 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars over the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-07, declined in real terms for the second year in a row in 2006-07, by $141 million in 2006 dollars. The highest annual expenditures were in 2004-05, when total Pell Grants equaled $14 billion in 2006 dollars.
• The average Pell Grant per recipient, $2,494 in 2006-07, was 23 percent higher in inflation-adjusted dollars than it had been a decade earlier, but 5.3 percent lower than it was in 2001-02.
• The percentage of tuition and fees and room and board at the average public four-year college covered by the maximum Pell Grant declined from 35 percent in 1996-97 and 42 percent in 2001-02 to 32 percent in 2006-07. The amount covered in 1986-87
During the 2006-07 academic year, more than $130 billion in financial aid was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students in the form of grants from all sources and federal loans, work-study, and tax credits and deductions. In addition, these students borrowed more than $18 billion from state and private sources to help finance their education.
• Total student aid increased by about 82 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars over the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-07. Aid to undergraduate and graduate students increased at similar rates.
• Loans have declined from 76 percent to 69 percent of total federal aid over the decade, as education tax credits and deductions have come to constitute 7 percent of federal aid to students.
• The increase in grant dollars between 1996-97 and 2006-07 covered an average of about a third of the increase in private college tuition and fees and half of the increase in average public four-year college tuition and fees. The increase in total aid, including both grant aid from all sources and federal loans, covered about two-thirds of the increase in tuition and fees at private four-year colleges and almost all of the increase in tuition and fees (but none of the additional increase in costs of attendance) at public four-year institutions.
Grant Aid
Grant aid from all sources averaged $4,648 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student—$4,218 per undergraduate (90 percent of all FTE students) and $8,343 per graduate student (10 percent of all FTE students).
• Total grant dollars to undergraduates increased by 7 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars between 2005-06 and 2006-07, and grant dollars to graduate students increased slightly more. Grant aid per student increased by 4 percent over the same period.
• The number of Pell Grant recipients increased by 41 percent, from 3.7 million to 5.2 million, over the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-07, after growing 38 percent the preceding decade.
• In 2005, 36 percent of all Pell Grant recipients were age 26 or older and 59 percent were independent of their parents. Among dependent Pell Grant recipients, two-thirds came from families with incomes below $30,000.
• Total Pell Grant expenditures, which rose by 73 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars over the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-07, declined in real terms for the second year in a row in 2006-07, by $141 million in 2006 dollars. The highest annual expenditures were in 2004-05, when total Pell Grants equaled $14 billion in 2006 dollars.
• The average Pell Grant per recipient, $2,494 in 2006-07, was 23 percent higher in inflation-adjusted dollars than it had been a decade earlier, but 5.3 percent lower than it was in 2001-02.
• The percentage of tuition and fees and room and board at the average public four-year college covered by the maximum Pell Grant declined from 35 percent in 1996-97 and 42 percent in 2001-02 to 32 percent in 2006-07. The amount covered in 1986-87