3/11/22

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

OFFICE OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Analysis of Ability to Benefit Usage

Session 3: March 14-18, 2022

This analysis describes data on the number of students who qualified and received federal student aid through the Ability to Benefit (ATB) 

provisions in recent years. In producing the data, we have included students who received ATB through either passage of an approved exam or by 

earning the requisite college credits and who were enrolled prior to July 1, 2012 (i.e., those who were grandfathered into a prior ATB statute and 

thus not required to also be enrolled in an eligible career pathway program), as well as those who received ATB through either the exam or creditsearned route after July 1, 2012. 

Table 1: Ability to Benefit Enrollment and Disbursements, By Award Year

In award year (AY) 2016, nearly 125,000 students received federal financial aid through ability to benefit, including more than 84,000 students 

who received Pell Grant funding as ATB students. Those numbers have declined in recent years; in AY 2021, fewer than 59,000 students received 

financial aid through ability to benefit.

Award Year Total Pell Grant

Enrollment $ Disbursed Enrollment Disbursed 

2016 124,238 $ 1,000,604,160 84,437 $ 314,203,711 

2017 88,713 $ 704,246,272 64,806 $ 238,900,653 

2018 76,073 $ 621,509,504 57,058 $ 220,905,326 

2019 68,963 $ 556,488,384 52,460 $ 210,323,828 

2020 64,406 $ 524,974,080 49,915 $ 206,775,876 

2021 58,679 $ 447,029,568 46,171 $ 191,999,538 

Table 2: Ability to Benefit Enrollment and Disbursements, By Award Year and Control

Most ATB students are enrolled at public institutions (62 percent in AY 2021). However, ATB students are disproportionately represented at 

proprietary institutions relative to overall student enrollment. In AY 2021, for example, more than one quarter (26 percent) of ATB students were 

enrolled at proprietary institutions, while less than 10 percent of the overall student population is enrolled at proprietary institutions nationally.
Ability to Benefit Data | 2

Award Year Public Private Nonprofit Private For-Profit

Enrollment $ Disbursed Enrollment $ Disbursed Enrollment $ Disbursed 

2016 83,788 $ 616,565,952 26,980 $ 276,638,144 13,182 $ 101,470,536

2017 57,732 $ 427,185,120 18,929 $ 185,153,136 11,979 $ 91,230,000

2018 47,423 $ 354,119,392 15,795 $ 160,284,848 12,798 $ 106,640,024

2019 43,776 $ 326,516,608 12,564 $ 126,979,720 12,574 $ 102,565,168

2020 40,845 $ 301,642,304 9,591 $ 98,775,408 13,892 $ 123,566,840

2021 36,611 $ 251,398,992 7,002 $ 69,387,024 14,998 $ 125,558,864

Figure 1: Ability to Benefit Enrollment, by Control, for AY 2021

Table 3: Ability to Benefit Pathway, by Award Year

12% 62%

26%

Public

Nonprofit

For-Profit
Ability to Benefit Data | 3

The data in Table 3 break out the pathways by which students become eligible for aid through ability to benefit: either by earning at least 6 college 

credits, or by passing an approved exam. (The state process is not included here because the Department does not yet track eligibility through the 

state process.) Overall, more students have become ATB students by first earning college credits (three-quarters of ATB students in AY 2021). 

However, the balance has shifted in recent years; in 2016, 90 percent of ATB students used the credits-earned pathway, compared with 10 percent 

using the exam; in AY 2021, one in four used the exam.

Award Year ATB Student by Earning At Least 6 Credits ATB Student by Test

Enrollment $ Disbursed Enrollment Disbursed 

2016 112,341 $ 920,737,600 11,916 $ 79,866,560

2017 75,558 $ 614,110,976 13,169 $ 90,135,304

2018 62,174 $ 515,644,384 13,928 $ 105,865,112

2019 55,742 $ 456,198,368 13,232 $ 100,290,072

2020 50,203 $ 403,399,936 14,206 $ 121,574,160

2021 43,933 $ 327,537,312 14,755 $ 119,492,280

Figure 2: ATB Enrollment Pathway, By Control, for AY 2021

There are also variations by sector in how students become eligible for Title IV aid as ATB students. While most students in the nonprofit and 

public sectors have become eligible via the credit-hours requirement, the vast majority in the for-profit sector instead utilize the test.

Table 4: AY 2021 Ability to Benefit Enrollment and Disbursements, by State

98.6 96.3

6.9

1.4 3.7

93.1

0

20

40

60

80

100

Public Nonprofit For-Profit

Test

Credits
Ability to Benefit Data | 4

This table describes the state-level enrollment and disbursement of aid to ATB students, as well as the number of institutions who have ATB 

students, by state for AY 2021. 

State TOTAL

Enrollment $ Disbursed # of Institutions with ATB Students

AK Suppressed Suppressed 1

AL 85 $ 714,370 9

AR 464 $ 3,388,172 11

AZ 65 $ 359,146 21

CA 30,462 $ 218,371,696 174

CO 2,295 $ 19,196,722 16

CT 62 $ 629,176 7

DC 52 $ 499,150 1

DE 13 $ 171,739 1

FL 12,102 $ 87,749,224 40

GA 174 $ 1,687,316 11

HI Suppressed Suppressed 2

IA 86 $ 802,324 11

ID 17 $ 104,613 7

IL 590 $ 4,294,620 31

IN 71 $ 565,956 15

KS 238 $ 1,243,471 8

KY 436 $ 4,329,077 10

LA 880 $ 8,224,835 16

MA 96 $ 861,581 19

MD 539 $ 4,590,664 21

ME 473 $ 3,749,209 7

MI 447 $ 2,872,059 36

MN 232 $ 2,315,288 15
Ability to Benefit Data | 

5

MO 408 $ 3,596,123 24

MS 106 $ 766,5937

MT 18 $ 143,6684

NC 237 $ 2,600,966 15

ND 14 $ 100,8496

NE 15 $ 146,7765

NH Suppressed Suppressed0

NJ 266 $ 2,327,507 17

NM 67 $ 456,6695

NV 23 $ 240,9974

NY 3,118 $ 30,916,654 49

OH 468 $ 3,712,218 24

OK 56 $ 576,251 11

OR 88 $ 661,927 16

PA 203 $ 2,421,037 28

PR 115 $ 854,5604

RI 53 $ 620,4003

SC 1,114 $ 10,408,923 16

SD Suppressed Suppressed3

TN 150 $ 1,367,0499

TX 1,386 $ 10,883,314 79

UT 71 $ 485,0808

VA 189 $ 1,915,003 14

VT 37 $ 348,2966

WA 257 $ 1,886,878 31

WI 82 $ 584,790 16

WV 178 $ 1,521,2856

WY Suppressed Suppressed0
Ability to Benefit Data | 6