College Loans and Financial Aid Increases
November 29, 2007
During the period 2006-07, nearly 75 percent of full-time undergraduate students received some form of financial aid. The two main avenues of aid were federal loans, which comprised 40 percent of the total, and grants from schools, which comprised 21 percent.
On average, a full-time student at a private school will receive nearly $9,300 in grants and tax benefits, which will reduce the overall average tuition and fees to somewhere in the neighborhood of $14,400 per year.
The average full-time student at a public four-year school received $3,600 on average, and that reduces the average tuition and fee cost down to around $2,600 per year.
Private college loans made up nearly 24 percent of total education student loans. About 41 percent of the grant financial aid that students received came directly from universities and colleges.
There had been some estimates that student loan borrowing would increase, but, in fact, it decreased. For the first time, graduate students could use the PLUS program (Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students) and some 127,000 student took advantage of it. On average, they borrowed a nearly $16,000 each.
The PLUS program covers the total cost of tuition, minus any other financial aid received.