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Analysis Shows Students' Use of Federal Student Aid by State and Congressional District

NAICU News Release

February 17, 2011

For Immediate Release
Contact: Tony Pals, tony@naicu.edu
Office: (202) 739-0474 | Cell: (202) 288-9333

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 17, 2011) - With the U.S. House of Representatives set to vote tonight on a budget proposal (H.R. 1) that will cut funding for Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), and other federal student aid, a new analysis of U.S. Department of Education data by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) quantifies the reliance on federal aid by students in every state and congressional district.

The data is publicly available on NAICU's website at www.naicu.edu/studentaid.

NAICU analyzed the most recently available Education Department data in late fall 2010 to determine the distribution of federal student aid in every area of the United States. For each state and congressional district, NAICU calculated the number of awards and total dollar amounts distributed through Pell Grants, the campus-based programs (SEOG, Federal Work-Study, and Perkins Loans), and federal loans. Data are for students at all institutions of higher education (public, private nonprofit, for-profit; four-year, two-year, and less than two-year) that participate in the federal student aid programs.

The House budget proposal (H.R. 1) would fund the federal government after March 4 through the remainder of FY 2011. The proposal, which would cut $100 billion from the federal budget, would be especially painful for low-income students.

Students would see an $845 reduction in the maximum Pell Grant, and the elimination of SEOG and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program. Summaries of how these programs help students are at www.naicu.edu/HR1Cuts.

The cuts would affect students as of July 1, 2011. Colleges are already putting together financial aid packages for their low-income students, many of whom have placed deposits and committed to enroll this fall, based on aid levels already promised by the federal government.

NAICU serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education. With more than 1,000 member institutions and associations, NAICU reflects the diversity of private nonprofit higher education in the United States. NAICU members enroll 90 percent of all students attending private institutions. They include traditional liberal arts colleges, major research universities, church- and faith-related institutions, historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, single-sex colleges, art institutions, two-year colleges, and schools of law, medicine, engineering, business, and other professions.

Contact

• Tony Pals
  (202) 785-8866
  tony@naicu.edu