University Financial Aid

Students may apply for and receive financial aid to help pay tuition and other costs of attending college. The chief sources of financial aid are federal programs, state grant programs, private grants, and institutional sources at the college or university. Aid may be either a grant based on financial need, a merit-based financial award given to the student, or a loan that the student must repay with interest in the future.

In the past, most students received financial aid in the form of a grant. However, the increases in tuition rates since the 1980s have coincided with a decrease in the funds available for public or private grants. More of the financial aid that most students now receive comes in the form of a loan rather than a grant or an award. For example, in the late 1980s the average grant was 46 percent of a typical student’s total aid package, while the average federal loan was 52 percent. By 1998 the grant size had fallen to 40 percent of the typical total, while loan size had increased to 58 percent. In 1997 borrowers who attended public four-year colleges had accumulated an average of $13,000 in debts. Those who went to private colleges averaged $17,500 in debts. Borrowers in graduate school had an average debt of $24,500, and those who went to professional school averaged $48,500.