Newsgroups: bit.listserv.erl-l
Date:         Sun, 12 Apr 1992 19:13:00 CDT
From:         P30JWP1@NIU.BITNET
Subject:      OERK; Parental $ support for undergrads (108 lines)

The following is provided by the Office of Educational Research
and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.  Please feel
welcome to distribute.

                  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
         OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT
            NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

                           EARLY ALERT

                 PARENTAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR
                     UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

In the near future, the National Center for Education Statistics
will release PARENTAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE
EDUCATION. This report examines the role parents play in
providing support for their financially dependent undergraduate
children. The report presents information on the extent to which
parents provided their children gifts, loans, and in-kind
contributions. Information on the amounts parents provided and
how the amounts provided compare with the expected family
contributions is also included. It also describes the sources of
funds and the specific kinds of savings and loan plans parents
used.

Data for this report was obtained from responses by students and
parents to the 1986/1987 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
(NPSAS). NPSAS includes data from students enrolled in all types
of postsecondary institutions.

When this publication is released, it will be available through
the ERIC system and through the Government Printing Office.
Announcements will be mailed to researchers and others concerned
with postsecondary student aid.

For additional information, please contact Suellen Mauchamer,
Office of the Commissioner, at (202) 219-1828.

Highlights of the Report

This report uses data from the 1986-87 National Postsecondary
Student Aid Study (NPSAS:87) to describe the ways in which
parents helped their financially dependent undergraduate children
pay for their postsecondary education. It examines what kinds of
help they provided and how the amount they provided compared to
the expected family contribution as defined by the financial aid
system. It also describes what sources of funds parents used and
what specific kinds of savings and loan plans they used. Some of
the major highlights are as follows:

o    Ninety-two percent of financially dependent undergraduates
     received gifts, loans, or inkind contributions from their
     parents: 75 percent received gifts or loans, 67 percent
     received gifts, 11 percent received loans, and 83 percent
     received in-kind contributions. The average gift was $3,902;
     the average loan was $2,732; and the average in-kind
     contribution was valued by parents at $3,187.

o    White students were more likely than black students to
     receive gifts (70 percent compared with 43 percent) and
     received larger amounts on average ($4,096 compared with
     $2,141).

o    Eighty-three percent of the students who attended private,
     nonprofit institutions received gifts or loans from their
     parents, compared with 73 percent of the students in public
     institutions and 63 percent of the students in private, for-
     profit institutions.

o    Forty percent of all students received less than three-
     fourths of the amount of their expected family contribution
     from their parents, 22 per     124 percent, and 38 percent rece

o    Among the students who received gifts or loans from their
     parents, more than three-quarters (79 percent) had parents
     who provided the gifts or loans from current income, and 65
     percent had parents who used previously saved funds. Smaller
     percentages of the students who received gifts or loans had
     parents who assumed loans (24 percent) or took on additional
     work (30 percent).

o    Overall, 42 percent of the students had parents who saved to
     help them with their postsecondary education: 11 percent had
     parents who had saved funds for educational use only, and 31
     percent had parents who had saved not just for educational
     purposes.

o    Among the students whose parents saved, almost half (46
     percent) had parents who began saving when the student was
     in elementary school or before. For 44 percent, saving began
     in junior high or high school, and for 10 percent it began
     later.

o    Among the students whose parents saved, most (71 percent)
     had parents who set up accounts in the parents' names. For
     45 percent there was an account in the child's name, for 14
     percent there was saving through a life insurance policy,
     and for 6 percent there was a trust fund.

o    Only 14 percent of the students had parents who assumed one
     or more types of loans.  Two percent had parents who took
     out federal PLUS loans, and 11 percent had parents who used
     other federal, state, or institutional sources.

o    The average amount for all loans assumed by parents was
     $3,986. The average PLUS loan was $2,387, and the average
     loan from other than federal, state, or institutional
     sources was $4,468.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU