## Archived Information Objective 3.2: Postsecondary students receive the financial aid and support services they need to enroll in and complete a high-quality educational program.

**Our Role.** Through the student financial assistance programs, the
Department of Education makes grants, loans, and Work Study
opportunities available to help overcome the financial barriers that
make it difficult for lower and middle-income students to attend and
complete postsecondary education. More than two-thirds of student aid
provided to postsecondary students comes from the Federal student aid
programs, amounting to more than \$50 billion in FY 2000. To help
overcome non-financial barriers to postsecondary education, the
Education Department provides funds through the Title III Strengthening
Institutions, International, Howard University, and other programs to
help ensure there are high-quality institutions available to serve
disadvantaged students. The Education Department also works through TRIO
and other programs to provide support services that enable disadvantaged
students to complete postsecondary education and enter graduate school.
The Education Department plays a strong leadership role in postsecondary
education, both through support for innovation provided by programs such
as the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education and Learning
Anytime Anywhere Partnerships, and through other numerous outreach
activities.

### Our Performance

**How We Measure.** Performance indicators for Objective 3.2 measure
outcomes associated with the postsecondary education system, such as
reducing unmet need and debt burden, increasing graduation rates,
ensuring that student aid programs remain cost beneficial, and providing
effective support programs for postsecondary students. Indicators
relating to the Education Department's delivery of the postsecondary
education programs are included under Objective 3.3.

**Indicator 3.2.a. Considering all sources of financial aid, the
percentage of unmet need, especially for low-income students, will
continuously decrease.**

**Assessment of Progress.** The 1999 goal was met, as a continued
decrease is evident. As shown in Figure 3.2.a.1, unmet need, as a
percentage of total cost of attendance, was estimated to decrease
slightly in each succeeding year with somewhat larger decreases for
low-income students. Since 1995-96, unmet need is estimated to have
decreased two percentage points for undergraduates overall and four or
more percentage points for low-income undergraduates.

While Federal student aid is a significant factor affecting unmet need,
at least as important are institutional and state decisions regarding
the cost of attendance, revenues, and expenditures, which increase the
difficulty of meeting the goal of continual decreases in unmet need. It
should also be noted that because unmet need represents the amount of
additional aid a student could possibly receive under student aid
regulations, it does not truly reflect the resources students and their
families actually use to pay for college. The data for 2000 are not
available.

Figure 3.2.a.1

![](media/image2.wmf)**Source:** 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student
Aid Study (NPSAS); 1996-97 and future years based on administrative
records and data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
(IPEDS) and College Board. *Frequency:* Annual. *Next Update:* 1997-98
(available in 2001); 1998-99 (available in 2001)*.* **Validation
procedure:** Data verified by the Education Department data attestation
process. **Limitations of data and planned improvements:** NPSAS data
are collected only every four years so that estimates are required for
the intervening years. These estimates, while done as carefully as
possible, will not necessarily exactly represent the circumstances faced
by students in the out-years. A change in the methodology used to
estimate unmet need in the out-years was implemented this year in order
to make the estimates more timely. When the 1999-2000 NPSAS data become
available not only will the Education Department have a new baseline,
the Education Department can compare our projections with the actual
data and, thereby, improve the accuracy of our future projections.

Indicator 3.2.b. The median Federal debt burden (yearly scheduled
payments as a percentage of annual earnings) of borrowers in their first
full year of repayment will be less than 10 percent.

**Assessment of Progress.** Progress towards the goal is likely. As a
general rule, it is believed that an educational debt burden of 10
percent or greater will negatively affect a borrower's ability to repay
his or her student loan or obtain other credit such as a home mortgage.
The Education Department expects the 1999 and 2000 median debt burden
rate to remain well below 10 percent. (The 1997 debt burden data
presented in figure 3.2.b.1 has been revised from the 1999 Performance
Report to reflect the use of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as opposed
to Social Security Administration (SSA) data. Since the SSA data tended
to understate household income, the debt burden using IRS data is
lower.) The data for 2000 are not available.

![](media/image2.wmf) Figure 3.2.b.1

Indicator 3.2.c. Completion rates for all full-time degree-seeking
students in 4-year and 2-year postsecondary institutions will improve,
while the gap in completion rates between minority and non-minority
students will decrease.

**Assessment of Progress.** Some progress is being made toward achieving
the target for 2-year schools but no progress is being made for 4-year
schools. The data for 2000 are not available.

It should be noted that the completion rates reported here are
understated to the extent to which students complete their degree at a
different institution from the one at which they began. The extent of
the underestimation appears to be about 10 percentage points.

![](media/image2.wmf) Figure 3.2.c.1 Figure 3.2.c.2

**Source**: Graduation Rate Survey (GRS) conducted as part of the
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). *Frequency:*
Annual. *Next Update:* 1999 (available in 2001). **Validation
procedure:** Data verified by the Education Department data attestation
process. **Limitations of data and planned improvements**: Postsecondary
institutions are not required to report graduation rates until 2002.
However, data were voluntarily submitted by institutions representing 87
percent of 4-year students and 77 percent of 2-year students. The
Education Department is investigating whether a proxy for graduation
rates for student aid recipients can be obtained from administrative
records to improve the response rates.

Indicator 3.2.d. The benefits of the student aid programs, in terms of
increased tax revenues, will continue to exceed their costs.

Assessment of Progress. The goal for 1998-2000 was exceeded.

Based on this calculation, the best estimate is that the student aid
programs return over \$3 to Federal taxpayers in terms of increased tax
revenue and reduced welfare payments for every \$1 spent on the student
aid programs. Even using very conservative assumptions, the low estimate
is still 50 percent higher than the \$1 break even point.

Figure 3.2.d.1

![](media/image2.wmf)

Indicator 3.2.e. Participants receiving support services through the
TRIO programs will complete postsecondary programs at rates higher than
comparable non-participants.

Assessment of Progress. In 1997, the goal for students receiving support
services in 1991 was met. Students receiving services from the Student
Support Services (SSS) Program were more likely to graduate from
postsecondary institutions and achieve higher GPAs than were comparable
students who did not participate in the program.

Figure 3.2.e.1

+---+------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---+
|   |                                    |                             |   |
+---+------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---+
|   | #####                              |                             |   |
|   | Findings from the Evaluation of th |                             |   |
|   | e Student Support Services Program |                             |   |
|   |                                    |                             |   |
|   | Preliminary results indicate that  |                             |   |
|   | among students beginning           |                             |   |
|   | postsecondary study in 1991, the   |                             |   |
|   | Student Support Services (SSS)     |                             |   |
|   | Program had a statistically        |                             |   |
|   | significant positive effect on the |                             |   |
|   | following two key measures of      |                             |   |
|   | student outcomes:                  |                             |   |
|   |                                    |                             |   |
|   | -   SSS recipients were 7          |                             |   |
|   |     percentage points more likely  |                             |   |
|   |     to continue postsecondary      |                             |   |
|   |     study or complete a degree at  |                             |   |
|   |     the same school within 6 years |                             |   |
|   |     than were comparable students  |                             |   |
|   |     who did not participate in the |                             |   |
|   |     program. They were also 11     |                             |   |
|   |     percentage points more likely  |                             |   |
|   |     to continue postsecondary      |                             |   |
|   |     study or complete a degree at  |                             |   |
|   |     any institution within 6       |                             |   |
|   |     years.                         |                             |   |
|   |                                    |                             |   |
|   | ```{=html}                         |                             |   |
|   | <!-- -->                           |                             |   |
|   | ```                                |                             |   |
|   | -   SSS recipients, on average,    |                             |   |
|   |     had a Grade Point Average      |                             |   |
|   |     (GPA) that was 0.12 points     |                             |   |
|   |     higher than comparable         |                             |   |
|   |     students who did not           |                             |   |
|   |     participate in SSS.            |                             |   |
+---+------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---+