National Postsecondary Student Aid Study

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Seal of the United States Department of Education
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National Center for Education Statistics logo (USA)

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is a study conducted every four years by the National Center for Education Statistics, [1] a division of the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. This study captures data regarding how students pay for postsecondary education, with special attention to how families fund higher education. [2] The NPSAS, which has been conducted periodically since 1987, has a complex design, utilizing sampling and weighting to achieve a sample that represents college students nationwide. [3] [4]

Contents

Survey content

The NPSAS collects data from a variety of sources:

In addition, an element called the non-traditional student risk index is calculated using risk factors for dropping out of college. This index includes factors that have been correlated with low persistence such as working full-time, being a single parent, and being enrolled part-time. [10]

The Lyndon B. Johnson Building, headquarters of the United States Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Usdepartmentofeducationbuilding.jpg
The Lyndon B. Johnson Building, headquarters of the United States Department of Education in Washington, D.C.

Use of NPSAS data in research

Aggregate NPSAS data is made available to the public via the Department of Education's website. Data containing personally identifiable information is only available to researchers who apply for and obtain a restricted use license from the Department of Education. [8]

NPSAS data is used by researchers to identify trends, for example in student loan repayments and the demographics of postsecondary students. [11] This trend data is used in a variety of ways, for example identifying best practices in decreasing inequalities in higher education [12] [13] and means of increasing student persistence. [14] [15]

Selected examples of NPSAS data research include:

GAO chart illustrating the percentages of undergraduate students with selected characteristics GAO chart illustrating the percentages of undergraduate students with selected characteristics.png
GAO chart illustrating the percentages of undergraduate students with selected characteristics

One of the most significant trends identified by studies of NPSAS data is the rise of nontraditional undergraduate students enrolled in higher education. The term "nontraditional student" refers to a student with one or more of the following characteristics:

Some researchers also use being over the age of 24 at the start of enrollment as a non-traditional characteristic, although this is one of the criteria for FAFSA independent status. The rise in nontraditional students enrolled in colleges and universities was first brought to light by Susan Choy, who published a study in 2002 finding that 73% of college students had at least one non-traditional characteristic during the 1999–2000 school year. [21] This finding prompted postsecondary institutional leaders to reassess student needs [22] and to a review of policies related to financial aid. [23]

A 2011 follow-up study using 2007-2008 NPSAS data found a similar percentage of nontraditional learners (70%) and identified several key segments of college students that overlapped with this group. [7]

Criticisms of the NPSAS

The most recently released full NPSAS data set is from 2019 to 2020, [24] about four years out-of-date at the time of this writing, and researchers have emphasized the importance of a more timely release of data, especially given the turbulence of higher education policy. [7]

Researchers have also critiqued the level of aggregation of NPSAS data sets made available without expensive and difficult-to-obtain restricted data use licenses, and have commented on limitations of the PowerStats online data analysis tool to group students by multiple variables and to create new variables. [25]

Others have found that useful variables are not included in the NPSAS, for example the status of tax return filings [18] and high school grades. [26] Another criticism is that the data collection cycle necessarily discounts students who drop out early in their studies or who enroll in a semester other than Fall. [26] Similarly, Pell Grant data is not available by semester, making it difficult to calculate eligibility for part-time students. [27] At other times, the differences in data collection between the NPSAS and other government entities makes it difficult to make direct comparisons. [28]

Related Research Articles

A nontraditional student is a term originating in North America, that refers to a category of students at colleges and universities. The term usually involves age and social characteristics. Nontraditional students are contrasted with traditional students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Student loan</span> Type of loan for educational expenses

A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest rate may be substantially lower and the repayment schedule may be deferred while the student is still in school. It also differs in many countries in the strict laws regulating renegotiating and bankruptcy. This article highlights the differences of the student loan system in several major countries.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form completed by current and prospective college students in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.

Student financial aid in the United States is funding that is available exclusively to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. This funding is used to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the pursuit of post-secondary education. Financial aid is available from federal and state governments, educational institutions, and private organizations. It can be awarded in the form of grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships. In order to apply for federal financial aid, students must first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university courses. Less commonly, it may refer to any individual who is participating in two related programs.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States. It also conducts international comparisons of education statistics and provides leadership in developing and promoting the use of standardized terminology and definitions for the collection of those statistics. NCES is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System.

The Tuition Assistance Program is a financial aid program for students who are New York State residents and who are attending a post-secondary educational institution in New York. It is a program of the Higher Education Services Corporation which is a New York State Agency.

A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with exceptional financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate programs, through participating institutions. Originally known as a Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, it was renamed in 1980 in honor of Democratic U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island. A Pell Grant is generally considered the foundation of a student's financial aid package, to which other forms of aid are added. The Federal Pell Grant program is administered by the United States Department of Education, which determines the student's financial need and through it, the student's Pell eligibility. The U.S. Department of Education uses a standard formula to evaluate financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for determining the student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Higher education in the United States</span> Education beyond high school

In the United States, higher education is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. It is also referred to as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education. It covers stages 5 to 8 on the International ISCED 2011 scale. It is delivered at 3,931 Title IV degree-granting institutions, known as colleges or universities. These may be public or private universities, research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by the government and by several third-party organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Higher Education Act of 1965</span> U.S. law establishing a student loan program

The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) was legislation signed into United States law on November 8, 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Johnson chose Texas State University, his alma mater, as the signing site. The law was intended "to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education". It increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, gave low-interest loans for students, and established a National Teachers Corps. The "financial assistance for students" is covered in Title IV of the HEA.

A Stafford Loan was a student loan offered from the United States Department of Education to eligible students enrolled in accredited American institutions of higher education to help finance their education. The terms of the loans are described in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which guarantees repayment to the lender if a student defaults. As of July 1, 2010, Stafford Loans are no longer being offered, having been replaced with the William D. Ford Federal Direct Student Loan Program.

Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest provider of student financial aid in the United States. Federal Student Aid provides student financial assistance in the form of grants, loans, and work-study funds. FSA is a Performance-Based Organization, and was the first PBO to be established in the US government.

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is a system of interrelated surveys conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a part of the Institute for Education Sciences within the United States Department of Education. IPEDS consists of twelve interrelated survey components that are collected over three collection periods each year as described in the Data Collection and Dissemination Cycle. The completion of all IPEDS surveys is mandatory for all institutions that participate in, or are applicants for participation in, any federal financial assistance program authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.

A part-time student is a non-traditional student who pursues higher education, typically after reaching adulthood, while living off-campus, and possessing responsibilities related to family and/or employment. Part-time student status is based on taking fewer course credits in a semester than full-time students. Part-time students may choose to pursue part-time studies for a variety of different reasons. A benefit of pursuing higher education as a part-time student is the opportunity to be able to balance learning with work, family and other personal commitments. Not every program will have the option for part-time students to enroll. The selection of programs that are available in a part-time format will vary depending on the institution.

An adult learner or, more commonly, a mature student, is a person who is older and is involved in forms of learning. Adult learners fall in a specific criterion of being experienced, and do not always have a high school diploma. Many of the adult learners go back to school to finish a degree, or earn a new one.

First-generation college students in the United States are college students whose parents did not complete a baccalaureate degree. Although research has revealed that completion of a baccalaureate degree is significant in terms of upward socioeconomic mobility in the United States, a considerable body of research indicates that these students face significant systemic barriers to postsecondary education access, academic success once enrolled, and degree completion. Many of these obstacles result from systemic racial, cultural, social, and economic inequities.

Bridget Terry Long is the 12th Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Saris Professor of Education and Economics. She is an economist whose research focuses on college access and success. Long is a Faculty Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the National Academy of Education.

Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education, also referred to as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education occurs most commonly at one of the 3,899 Title IV degree-granting institutions in the country. These may be public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. Learning environments vary greatly depending on not only the type of institution, but also the different goals implemented by the relevant county and state.

Financial issues facing students in the United States include the rising cost of tuition, as well as ancillaries, such as room and board, textbook and coursework costs, personal expenses, and transportation.

Sarah E. Turner is an American professor of economics and education and Souder Family Endowed Chair at the University of Virginia. She also holds appointments in the university's Department of Economics, the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and the School of Education and Human Development. She is a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research affiliate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.

References

  1. ↑ "National Postsecondary Student Aid Study". RTI. 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  2. ↑ Addo, Fenaba R. (2017). Ensuring a More Equitable Future: Exploring and Measuring the Relationship Between Family Wealth, Education Debt, and Wealth Accumulation (PDF). Postsecondary Value Commission.
  3. ↑ Mitchell, Travis (2019-05-22). "A Rising Share of Undergraduates Are From Poor Families, Especially at Less Selective Colleges". Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  4. ↑ Kofoed, Michael S. (2017-02-01). "To Apply or Not to Apply: FAFSA Completion and Financial Aid Gaps". Research in Higher Education. 58 (1): 1–39. doi:10.1007/s11162-016-9418-y. ISSN   1573-188X. S2CID   254990855.
  5. ↑ Skira, Aaron Michael (2018). Consequences of Postsecondary Education Institution Policies and Practices: A Structural Model of Tuition Costs, Student Financial Aid, Selectivity, Proximity, and Enrolled Undergraduate Students' Aggregate Capital (Dissertation).
  6. ↑ Murphy, Kevin B. (2004). "Identifying Additional Layers of Diversity at Public Urban Universities by Using Data from the 2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study". Metropolitan Universities. 15 (4): 23–37.
  7. 1 2 3 Reeves, Tamara J.; Miller, Leslie A.; Rouse, Ruby A. (2011). Reality Check: A Vital Update to the Landmark 2002 NCES Study of Nontraditional College Students (PDF). Apollo Research Institute.
  8. 1 2 3 White, Paul M. (2007). Assessing the Factors that Affect the Persistence and Graduation Rates of Native American Students in Postsecondary Education (Dissertation). Bowling Green State University.
  9. ↑ Cadena, Brian C.; Keys, Benjamin J. (2013). "Can Self-Control Explain Avoiding Free Money? Evidence from Interest-Free Student Loans". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 95 (4): 1117–1129. doi:10.1162/REST_a_00321. ISSN   0034-6535. JSTOR   43554817. PMC   4021586 . PMID   24839312.
  10. ↑ Wladis, Claire; Hachey, Alyse C.; Conway, Katherine M. (2015). "The Representation of Minority, Female, and Non-Traditional STEM Majors in the Online Environment at Community Colleges: A Nationally Representative Study". Community College Review. 43 (1): 89–114. doi:10.1177/0091552114555904. S2CID   147497596.
  11. ↑ Scott-Clayton, Judith (2018-01-11). "The Looming Student Loan Default Crisis is Worse than we Thought". Brookings. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  12. ↑ Herbaut, Estelle; Geven, Koen (2020-02-01). "What works to reduce inequalities in higher education? A systematic review of the (quasi-)experimental literature on outreach and financial aid". Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. Experimental methods in social stratification research. 65: 100442. doi: 10.1016/j.rssm.2019.100442 . hdl: 10986/31497 . ISSN   0276-5624.
  13. ↑ Kelchen, Robert (2019). "Exploring the Relationship Between Performance-Based Funding Design and Underrepresented Student Enrollment at Community Colleges". Community College Review. 47 (4): 382–405. doi:10.1177/0091552119865611. ISSN   0091-5521. S2CID   201392053.
  14. ↑ Castleman, Benjamin L.; Page, Lindsay C. (2015-07-01). "Summer nudging: Can personalized text messages and peer mentor outreach increase college going among low-income high school graduates?". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Behavioral Economics of Education. 115: 144–160. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.008. ISSN   0167-2681.
  15. ↑ Castleman, Benjamin L.; Page, Lindsay C. (2016). "Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An Experiment to Increase FAFSA Renewal and College Persistence". The Journal of Human Resources. 51 (2): 389–415. doi:10.3368/jhr.51.2.0614-6458R. ISSN   0022-166X. JSTOR   24736027. S2CID   155814000.
  16. ↑ Fry, Richard; Cilluffo, Anthony (2019). "A Rising Share of Undergraduates are From Poor Families, Especially at Less Selective Colleges" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  17. ↑ Chan, Monnica; Kwon, Jihye; Nguyen, David J.; Saunders, Katherine M.; Shah, Nilkamal; Smith, Katie N. (2019). "Indebted Over Time: Racial Differences in Student Borrowing". Educational Researcher. 48 (8): 558–563. doi:10.3102/0013189X19864969. ISSN   0013-189X. S2CID   200039771.
  18. 1 2 Delisle, Jason; Blagg, Kristin (2022). "Federal Undergraduate Loan Limits and Inflation: What Borrowing Patterns and Evidence Reveal about Current Policy" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  19. ↑ Zhang, Liang (2022). "How Did the Post-9/11 GI Bill Affect Veteran Students' Undergraduate College Choices? An Application of Propensity Scores in Difference-in-Differences Models". Harvard Educational Review. 92 (1): 1–31. doi:10.17763/1943-5045-92.1.1. S2CID   247991353.
  20. ↑ Radford, Alexandria Walton; Cominole, Melissa; Skomsvold, Paul (2015). "Demographic and Enrollment Characteristics of Nontraditional Undergraduates: 2011-12. Web Tables. NCES 2015-025" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  21. ↑ Choy, Susan (2002). "Nontraditional Undergraduates, NCES 2009-012" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  22. ↑ Hines, Mary (2009). "Serving Adult Students: Challenges and Committments" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  23. ↑ Nicholas, S. (2008). "Nontraditional Older Students". EBSCO Researcher Starter. 1 (7).
  24. ↑ "2019–20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study" (PDF). Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  25. ↑ Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality (2021). "Obstacles to Opportunity: Accompanying Methodology Note" (PDF). Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  26. 1 2 St. John, Edward P.; Starkey, Johnny B.; Paulsen, Michael B.; Mbaduagha, Loretta A. (1995). "The Influence of Prices and Price Subsidies on Within-Year Persistence by Students in Proprietary Schools". Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. 17 (2): 149–165. doi:10.3102/01623737017002149. JSTOR   1164558. S2CID   145592780.
  27. ↑ Dynarski, Susan; Scott-Clayton, Judith; Wiederspan, Mark (2013). "Simplifying Tax Incentives and Aid for College: Progress and Prospects". Tax Policy and the Economy. 27 (1): 161–202. doi:10.1086/671247. ISSN   0892-8649. S2CID   154841134.
  28. ↑ "Publication of the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition". www.ncset.org. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
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