42nd Annual Survey Report on State-Sponsored Student Financial Aid, 2010-2011 Academic Year
Author: National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP)
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Expenditures,State Aid,Student Financial Aid,Grants,Tuition,National Surveys,Merit Scholarships,Awards,Financial Support,Undergraduate Students,Graduate Students,Student Loan Programs,Financial Needs

This report provides data regarding state-funded expenditures for student financial aid and illustrates the extent of efforts made by the states to assist postsecondary students. Information in this report is based on academic year 2010-11 data from the 42nd Annual National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) survey. Highlights include: (1) In the 2010-11 academic year, the states awarded about $11 billion in total state funded student financial aid, an increase of about 2.5 percent in nominal terms and 1.3 percent in constant dollar terms from the $10.8 billion in aid awarded in 2009-10; (2) The majority of state aid remains in the form of grants. In 2010-11, almost 4.3 million grant awards were made representing about $9.2 billion in need and nonneed-based grant aid, an increase of about 4 percent from the $8.9 billion in grants awarded in 2009-10. Of the grant money awarded in 2010-11, 71 percent was need-based and 29 percent was nonneed-based, a slight increase in the percentage of nonneed-based aid; (3) Funding for undergraduate need-based grant aid increased slightly nationwide from about $6.3 billion in 2009-10 to about $6.4 billion in 2010-11, an increase of 1.7 percent; (4) Ten states (California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana, Washington, and Florida) collectively awarded more than $4.8 billion in undergraduate need-based grant aid, accounting for about 75 percent of all aid of this type; and (5) States provided more than $1.8 billion in nongrant student aid, including loans, loan assumptions, conditional grants, work-study, and tuition waivers, down almost 5 percent from last year. Loans and tuition waivers accounted for 74 percent of nongrant funds awarded. All fifty states (plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico) reported state-funded undergraduate programs with a need component, of which 48 states had a program that was exclusively need-based. Twenty eight states identified undergraduate programs which made awards based only on merit. Exclusively need-based aid constituted 44 percent of all aid to undergraduates, exclusively merit-based aid accounted for 20 percent, with the rest, 36 percent, accounted for by other programs and by programs with both need and merit components. The amount of undergraduate aid awarded in 2010-11 through programs with a merit component increased to about $3.9 billion from about $3.4 billion in 2009-10. This compares to $4.5 billion awarded to undergraduates through programs based only on need. Georgia, South Carolina, Washington DC, and Tennessee provided the greatest amount of grant aid on a per capita basis. Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee were the largest providers of aid per capita for the population between ages 18 and 24. Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee provided the most undergraduate grant dollars compared to undergraduate full time equivalent enrollment. South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia had the highest proportion of total expenditures for state-funded grants compared to State fiscal support for higher education. (Contains 14 tables and 6 figures.) [For &quot;41st Annual Survey Report on State-Sponsored Student Financial Aid, 2009-2010 Academic Year,&quot; see ED527271.]