GROUPINGS of VARIABLES

The data set includes two types of variables, those that were taken directly from the sources as reported, and those that were derived or calculated. In general, most of the percentages and averages were derived from the reported totals. The notes describing the variables indicate the source where the data was reported and how derived variables were calculated.

The 258 variables are grouped into the following subjects:

• Aid applicants (number): the number of federal financial aid applicants by dependency and income, as reported by the college in the FISAP. For dependent students (most of the students under 24), the reported income includes the income of the parents; for independent students (24 or older, married, or have children) the parents’ income is not included.
• Aid applicants (percentage): the derived percentage of aid applicants who are dependent or independent, the percentage distribution of applicants by income within each dependency category, and the percentage of all undergraduates who applied for aid, based on the numbers reported in the FISAP. In 2003-04, the national averages for the income distribution of the parents of dependent students was about 25% under $32,000 and about 50% under $60,000. For independent students it was about 25% under $12,000 and about 50% under $25,000. (National Postsecondary Student Aid Study)
• Dependent students: starts with an estimated total number of dependent undergraduates, based on the age distribution reported in IPEDS. This is used as the denominator to derive an estimated percentage of all dependent students who applied for aid, and the percentage of all dependent students represented by the income levels of the aid applicants reported in the FISAP. The total number of dependent students was estimated by first multiplying the percentage of undergraduates 24 or younger as reported in IPEDS times the 12-month enrollments reported in the FISAP, and then taking 90% of this number at 4-year colleges and 75% at 2-year colleges (based on national averages in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study).
• Enrollments: provides a number of different ways that students are counted and enrollments are reported. These include the total fall term enrollments and full-time fall enrollments reported in IPEDS, the estimated full-time equivalent (FTE) calculated as full-time students plus about 40% of part-time students, the 12-month enrollments reported in IPEDS, and the 12-month enrollments reported in the FISAP. Since any of these enrollment counts can be used in the denominator in calculating percentages (of Pell grants, for example), large differences in the enrollment variables will result in large differences in the percentages. Federal aid applications, Pell grants, and Stafford loans to students are counted over a 12-month period, so the most appropriate denominator is the 12-month enrollment count. The FISAP reported 12-month enrollment has been used in the calculations. The IPEDS reported 12-month enrollments are shown to help assess the reliability of the FISAP reported numbers since there are discrepancies in a number of cases.
• Institution characteristics: state, sector, Carnegie classification, admissions selectivity, tuition and fees, freshman retention rate, graduation rate (6-year for four-year colleges, 3-year for two-year colleges), all from IPEDS.
• Loans: the number of undergraduate borrowers and the average amount borrowed for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic year for Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans, from the National Student Loan Data System. Students may borrow both subsidized and unsubsidized loans, but they are reported separately, so it is not possible to calculate the percentage of students who borrowed, or average Stafford loan for the combined amounts. Data on total average borrowing by graduates, and the percentage who borrowed, is reported by some campuses through the CDS, for 2000-01, 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06. The source of the CDS data is Peterson’s Undergraduate Financial Aid and Undergraduate Databases, © 2007 Peterson’s, a Nelnet company. All rights reserved.
• Pell grants: the total number of Pell grant recipients and the average size of the grants. Since Pell grants may be awarded to students enrolled at any time during the academic year, the unduplicated number of students enrolled over a 12-month period is the appropriate denominator. Percentages are also provided based on fall enrollments (which will tend to artificially inflate the actual percentage) as well as the percentage of aid applicants receiving Pell grants.
• Race-ethnicity: the percentages are based on the fall enrollments reported in IPEDS. The denominator for these percentages is the sum of the number of students who reported a race. International students (whose race data is not collected) and those whose race was reported as "unknown" were excluded.
• Total dollars (tuition, grants, loans): the total dollar amount of undergraduate tuition and fees revenue and undergraduate state grants reported in the FISAP, the total Pell grant dollars reported in the Pell file, and the total undergraduate Stafford loan dollars reported in the NSLDS file. These amounts are divided by the estimated undergraduate FTE to show the size of the average amounts when spread among all students, not just those who received aid.

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CHOOSING AN ENROLLMENT MEASURE

In analyzing the proportion of students who have Pell Grants, or loans, or who have applied for financial aid, a decision must be made about the measure to use of total enrollment (the denominator).