DATA

POINT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NCES 2016-406 AUGUST 2016

Undergraduates

Who Do Not Apply

for Financial Aid

Data in this report are from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS),

a nationally representative sample survey. To learn more, visit 

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas. For questions about content or to view this 

report online, go to http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016406.

This report is based on data from the 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), a large, nationally representative 

sample survey of students that focuses on how they finance their education. NPSAS includes data on the application for and receipt of 

financial aid, including grants, loans, assistantships, scholarships, fellowships, tuition waivers and discounts, veteran’s benefits, employer 

aid, and other monies (other than from relatives or friends) students use to meet expenses.

What percentage of 

undergraduate

students did not apply 

for financial aid in 

2011–12, and how does 

that vary by type of 

institution? 

• Overall, 20 percent of undergraduate students1 did not

apply for any financial aid in

2011–12; percentages by sector ranged from 30 percent of

students in public 2-year institutions to 5 percent of those

in for-profit institutions

(figure 1).

• Overall, 10 percent of undergraduates had not applied for

federal student aid, but had

applied for or received nonfederal student aid2; this was

most common among students

in private nonprofit institutions

(14 percent vs. 8–10 percent).

FIGURE 1. FINANCIAL AID APPLICATION: Percentage 

distribution of undergraduates’ financial aid application 

status, by type of institution: 2011–12 

70

61

71 76

87

10

10

10

14

20 8

30

18 11 5

0

20

40

60

80

100

 Total Public

2-year

Public

4-year

Private

nonprofit

4-year

For-profit

Percent

Type of institution

Did not

apply for

any aid

Only applied

for nonfederal

aid

Applied for

federal aid

NOTE: “Nonfederal aid” refers to private loans and any aid received from states or institutions. 

Students may receive some types of nonfederal aid without applying for it, and such students are 

included in the “Only applied for nonfederal aid” category. Students who applied for federal aid may 

also have applied for other forms of aid. Students who attended more than one institution are included 

in the total, but not shown separately. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Estimates 

include students enrolled in Title IV-eligible postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District 

of Columbia. Prior cycles of NPSAS included sampled institutions from Puerto Rico; to yield 

comparable estimates across cycles, use the COMPTO87 variable to exclude Puerto Rican institutions 

from estimates. Standard error tables are available at 

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016406. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011–12 National 

Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12). 
More About Undergraduates Who Do Not Apply for Financial Aid

What reasons do students 

give for not applying for 

financial aid?

• Across all types of institutions,

the two most cited reasons for

not applying for aid were that

students thought they could

afford college without aid and

students thought they were

ineligible (figure 2).

• Regardless of institution type,

43–46 percent of undergraduates who did not apply

for student aid thought they

were ineligible.

• Among students in public

2-year institutions, a smaller

percentage than their counterparts in other institution types

reported not needing aid (39

percent vs. 49–51 percent),

while a larger percentage

reported not having information

about how to apply (15 percent

vs. 8–12 percent).

• Concern about taking on debt

was reported more frequently

as a reason for not applying

for aid by students in public

4-year institutions than by

students in other types of institutions (37 percent vs. 21–33 

percent). 

FIGURE 2. DID NOT APPLY FOR AID: Of undergraduates who 

had not applied for aid and had not received any nonfederal 

aid, percentage who reported various reasons for not 

applying, by type of institution: 2011–12 

43

44

33

13

9

39

43

33

15

9

51

46

37

12

10

49

43

25

9

9

49

45

21

8

7

0 20 40 60 80 100

Could afford

 college

 without aid

Thought ineligible

 Did not

want debt

 No information

on how to apply

Forms were

 too much

 work

Percent

Total

Public 2-year

Public 4-year

Private nonprofit

4-year

For-profit

NOTE: Estimates include students who did not apply for federal aid and those who did not receive aid 

from any other sources (e.g., state, institution, or private loans). Estimates include students enrolled in 

Title IV-eligible postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Prior cycles of 

NPSAS included sampled institutions from Puerto Rico; to yield comparable estimates across cycles, 

use the COMPTO87 variable to exclude Puerto Rican institutions from estimates. Standard error tables 

are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016406. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011–12 National 

Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12). 

Endnotes

1 Part-time and full-time students are included.

2 It is possible to receive aid without directly 

applying for it (e.g., institutional merit aid offered 

to college applicants).

This NCES Data Point presents information on education topics of 

interest. It was authored by Nicole Ifill of RTI International. Estimates 

based on samples are subject to sampling variability, and apparent 

differences may not be statistically significant. All noted differences 

are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, and 

data processing of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 

surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling 

errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error.