One-third of the students who get financial aid come from families who make $100,000 or more a year, according to the U. S. Department of Education.
The National Center for Education Statistics, operated by the U.S. Department of Education, based their recent report on the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) from 2011-2012. In the report, only 16% of loan recipients were from families with incomes under $20,000, 18% from the $20,000-$39,000 income level and 28% whose families had incomes of $100,000 or more.
Moreover, two-thirds of all students get aid. All in all, 71% of undergraduates received some semblance of financial aid, with 59% of those receiving aid via grants and 42% taking out student loans.
The average for undergraduate loans amounted to $10,800, and the other loan options such as grants or student loans were $6,200 and $7,100 respectively. Now if the total student aid was broken down per undergraduate it would come to $8,200 per student.
Spencer Irvine is a staff writer at Accuracy in Academia. If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org [1].