Aspects of undergraduate finances: Using the NPSAS data to analyze borrowing in Minnesota and Connec

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Aspects of undergraduate finances Using the
NPSAS data to analyze borrowing in Minnesota and
Connecticut
Tricia GrimesShefali MehtaMinnesota Office of
Higher EducationJune 2006Presented for the
Student Financial Aid Research Network
Conference, June 22-24, 2006 in Providence, Rhode
Island
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The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
(NPSAS)

• NPSAS 2004 provided data for detailed state-level
  analysis for 12 states for the three major
  institutional sectors
• The dataset provides over 1,000 variables on
  finances, demographics, persistence, and
  attendance.
• While the data provide much useful information
  that was not previously available, there are
  several areas where it is necessary to use the
  data with caution.
• Todays presentation will focus on borrowing
  characteristics in Minnesota and Connecticut
  while highlighting the issues in analyzing these
  data.

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Overview of finances in the 12 states
Income, tuition and borrowing for undergraduates
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Income distributions ranked by median
Income distributions by dependent status
Independent (residents)
Dependent (residents) 
 
75th
50th
25th
75th
50th
25th
 
50,100
26,500
12,700
90,000
58,200
32,500
U.S.
55,600
30,700
14,800
93,200
67,800
39,600
Minnesota
51,200
28,700
11,500
98,600
67,100
42,200
Indiana
62,700
30,800
14,200
94,700
66,500
39,600
Connecticut
55,100
30,400
13,700
91,500
61,200
36,200
Illinois
53,000
26,600
11,600
85,200
61,000
33,700
Tennessee
49,900
24,500
9,000
88,600
59,200
35,600
Oregon
54,900
32,700
17,400
95,200
58,200
34,000
Delaware
50,200
27,700
12,800
82,500
57,600
37,700
Nebraska
46,200
24,700
11,000
88,800
57,000
29,400
Texas
43,400
24,500
11,300
90,100
55,000
30,400
Georgia
56,500
27,400
11,100
89,800
53,600
26,200
California
45,100
24,100
10,900
86,000
51,500
28,300
New York
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Tuition and fees ranked by median
Tuition and fees in the 12 states
Undergraduates attending full-time, full year
All undergraduates
75th
50th
25th
 
75th
50th
25th
 
9,800
4,800
2,800
U.S.
5,400
2,300
790
U.S.
24,000
6,800
5,000
Connecticut
18,000
5,000
1,500
Connecticut
18,000
5,700
4,300
New York
11,000
4,300
2,300
New York
17,000
5,400
3,800
Indiana
5,800
3,400
1,700
Minnesota
7,000
5,300
4,200
Oregon
4,100
3,100
1,300
Nebraska
11,000
5,000
1,800
Illinois
5,800
3,000
1,300
Indiana
7,700
4,400
3,300
Minnesota
6,600
2,300
1,100
Delaware
10,000
3,900
3,100
Tennessee
5,000
1,900
650
Oregon
9,300
3,800
3,200
Nebraska
3,900
1,900
910
Tennessee
4,800
3,500
1,700
Texas
5,200
1,500
630
Illinois
5,100
3,200
2,600
Georgia
3,100
1,400
590
Georgia
6,000
2,500
550
California
3,200
1,100
540
Texas
6,300
2,200
1,700
Delaware
2,000
320
180
California
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Ranked by percent who borrowed
Overall annual borrowing in the 12 states
Total loans (95 confidence intervals)
Percent who borrowed (95 confidence intervals)
Total loans
Percent who borrowed
 
5,900
5,700
35
35
5,800
35
U.S.
6,400
5,800
51
48
6,100
49
Minnesota
5,200
4,700
48
43
5,000
46
Nebraska
6,400
5,700
42
38
6,000
40
New York
5,900
5,300
40
37
5,600
39
Indiana
5,400
5,000
38
35
5,200
37
Tennessee
6,200
5,500
36
33
5,800
34
Oregon
7,600
6,000
36
32
6,800
34
Connecticut
6,400
5,000
33
27
5,700
30
Delaware
6,000
5,600
28
25
5,800
26
Texas
6,000
5,400
27
23
5,700
25
Georgia
5,600
5,000
27
23
5,300
25
Illinois
5,700
5,300
17
14
5,500
16
California
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Borrowing in Minnesota and Connecticut
Undergraduate borrowing by attendance status,
sector and class level
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Enrollment across institutional sectors CT and MN
The difference in enrollment between the public
2-year and private not-for-profit 4-year sector
is substantial.
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Borrowing by attendance status Minnesota
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Borrowing by attendance status Connecticut
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Average loan amount by attendance status
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Percent who borrowed by attendance status
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Average loan amount by dependent students
parents income
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Percent who borrowed by dependent students
parents income
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Average loan amount by full-time students by
institutional sector
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Percent who borrowed by institutional sector
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Average cumulative borrowing for graduating
seniors by sector
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Percent of graduating seniors who borrowed by
sector
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Reports and articles for Minnesota
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Findings and discussion

• Borrowing under some variables is similar but on
  the whole, the percent who borrowed in Minnesota
  is higher than in Connecticut
• Answering these questions requires more complex
  models to deal with these complex relationships
  that can not be analyzed by basic descriptive
  statistics or linear regression
• Minnesota has found the state-level data to be
  very useful
• It helps to have a graduate intern who can spend
  dedicated time on mining the data.
• We are grateful for Lumina Foundation support

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Findings and discussion - continued

• If we had it to do over again, we would like a
  larger sample and we would like the sample to
  include students in the for-profit sector
• A sample of 1,800 is a nice size, but when you
  want to look at full-time students you end up
  with about 900, then dependent students gets you
  about 450 and when you cut it by sector and
  income, the sample size is too small for
  meaningful analysis.

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Findings and discussion - continued

• One of the major advantages of NPSAS data is
  information on students who did not apply for aid
• In Minnesota there was less precision on this
  data because the two public systems interpreted
  federal and Minnesota data privacy laws to mean
  they could provide little information about
  students who had not filled out a FAFSA.
• If these systems change the data warning in
  their student application materials, they should
  be able to provide more complete data.
• Another major advantage is information on aid
  from all sources
• Private and state loans
• Institution and private grants and scholarships

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The End Thank you
For questions or comments, please contact
usTricia Grimes, Tricia.Grimes_at_state.mn.usShe
fali Mehta, Shefali.Mehta_at_state.mn.us