Exploring the College Enrollment of Parents: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

One common policy lever for increasing college enrollment is student financial aid, as financial aid reduces the price of enrollment. Most financial aid (e.g., 67% of aid awarded to undergraduates in 2007-08) is awarded via federally-sponsored student financial aid programs (College Board, 2008). Nonetheless, state governments may also play an important role in promoting financial access to college. Between 1997-98 and 2007-08, the amount of funds awarded to undergraduates from state grant programs increased by 80% after controlling for inflation, a faster rate of growth than Federal Pell Grants (75% increase) and grants from colleges and universities (78% increase, College Board, 2008). In 2007-08, state grants totaled nearly $8 billion, or 7% of all aid received by undergraduates (College Board, 2008). These aggregate statistics mask variations in the availability of aid across states. Whereas criteria for receiving federal financial aid do not vary across states, both the amounts of state grants and the criteria for receiving state grants vary widely. For example, some states (e.g., South Carolina, New York, Georgia, and Kentucky) offer over $1,000 in grant aid per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student, while others (e.g., Arizona, Hawaii, and Wyoming) offer less than $10 per FTE (College Board, 2007). These state variations provide an opportunity to explore variations in the college enrollment of one segment of the adult learner population-i.e., parents-based on the availability of financial aid. Capitalizing on state variations, this study uses descriptive analyses of data from the 2003-04 National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS:04) to explore whether college enrollment rates of parents vary based on the availability of state grants. Because little is known about the college enrollment of students who are also parents, the paper also uses descriptive analyses of the NPSAS:04 to describe the demographic and college-related characteristics of this population.