41st Annual Survey Report on State-Sponsored Student Financial Aid, 2009-2010 Academic Year
Author: National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP)
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: National Surveys,State Aid,Student Financial Aid,Grants,Undergraduate Students,Graduate Students,Expenditures,Financial Support,Student Loan Programs,Merit Scholarships

Each year, the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) completes a survey regarding state-funded expenditures for postsecondary student financial aid. This report, the 41th annual survey, represents data from academic year 2009-10. Data highlights include: (1) In the 2009-2010 academic year, the states awarded about $10.8 billion in total state funded student financial aid, an increase of about 3.8 percent in nominal terms and 6.0 percent in constant dollar terms from the $10.4 billion in aid awarded in 2008-09; (2) The majority of state aid remains in the form of grants. In 2009-10, more than 4.07 million grant awards were made representing about $8.9 billion in need and nonneed-based grant aid, an increase of about 3.6 percent from the $8.6 billion in grants awarded in 2008-09. Of the grant funds awarded in 2009-10, 73 percent was need-based and 27 percent was nonneed-based, almost the same percentage as seen in 2008-09; (3) Funding for undergraduate need-based grant aid increased $275 million nationwide from about $6.1 billion in 2008-09 to about $6.3 billion in 2009-10, an increase of 4.5 percent; (4) Ten states (California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, Indiana, Minnesota) collectively awarded more than $4.6 billion in undergraduate need-based grant aid, accounting for about 74 percent of all aid of this type; and (5) States provided more than $1.9 billion in nongrant student aid, including loans, loan assumptions, conditional grants, work-study, and tuition waivers, up about 4.4 percent from last year. Loans and tuition waivers again accounted for 71 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 (plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico) had a program that was exclusively need-based. Thirty states identified programs which made awards based only on merit. Exclusively need-based aid constituted 47 percent of all aid to undergraduates, exclusively merit-based aid accounted for 18 percent, with the rest, 35 percent, accounted for by other programs and by programs with both need and merit components. The amount of undergraduate aid awarded in 2009-10 through programs with a merit component increased to about $3.4 billion from about 3.2 billion in 2008-09. This compares to $4.5 billion awarded to undergraduates through programs based only on need. South Carolina, Georgia, Washington DC, and West Virginia provided the greatest amount of grant aid on a per capita basis. South Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and New Jersey were the largest providers of aid per capita for the population between ages 18 and 24. South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey, and West Virginia again provided the most undergraduate grant dollars compared to undergraduate full time equivalent enrollment. South Carolina, Georgia, Vermont, Tennessee, 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;40th Annual Survey Report on State-Sponsored Student Financial Aid, 2008-2009 Academic Year,&quot; see ED527270.]