Among SCHTs, the freshman discount rates range from 5 percent to 66 percent, while at LCUs the range is from 4.5 percent to 48.2 percent. The tuition discount rate for all undergraduates is defined as the institutionally funded financial aid from all sources for all undergraduates divided by total undergraduate tuition revenue. Table 5 indicates that the discount rate increased by more than 36 percent over the seven-year period among all institutions, with the largest acceleration occurring between 1990 and 1992. The difference between the freshman tuition discount rate and the undergraduate tuition discount rate is attributable to an institution's philosophy and financial aid strategy. At all types of institutions, the discount rate for freshmen is greater than that for all undergraduates.
Many institutions provide less grant aid to upperclass students than to freshmen.
This is in large part attributable to the increased loan eligibility of students as they advance through college. At any institution that increases the self-help component for upperclass students, the difference between the freshman rate and the undergraduate rate will be influenced by the retention rate. At institutions with low retention rates, a larger percentage of undergraduates are freshman, and therefore the discount rate will be more heavily influenced by the size of the freshman class. At SCLTs, the difference between the freshman discount rate and the undergraduate rate is significantly higher than at SCHTs and LCUs. The freshman discount rate exceeds the average undergraduate rate by more than 6 percent in all years at SCLTs.