iii
since borrowing is discretionary. After the
average EFC, gift aid and work-study amounts
were taken into consideration across all students
with need, unmet need for low-income
dependent students averaged $3,200, $4,300,
and $7,300 respectively at community colleges,
public universities, and private institutions.
When student loans were added in, unmet need
continued to average $3,100 at community
colleges for low-income students, but was
reduced to $2,300 and $2,400 at public
universities and private institutions. Figure A
provides unmet need data by income quintile
and school type for dependent students as well
as aid amounts by types of aid both before and
after student loans.
Remaining need was larger, however, for
independent students across all sectors before
loans. After loans, it continued to be larger than
that for dependent students primarily at
community colleges. Average unmet need for
first quintile independent students at community
colleges after loans was $5,500 compared to
$3,200 for dependent students.
Nearly 65 percent of dependent students and 80
percent of independent students still had
remaining need after all student aid was taken
into consideration. For these dependent students
unmet need was comparable across all school
types averaging $3,600 at community colleges,
$3,500 at public universities, and $4,000 at
private institutions.
Net Price
Net price, the difference between the student’s
cost (budget) and financial aid was also
considered both before and after student loans.
Before loans, net price was lowest at community
colleges; it averaged $3,300, $4,600, and $7,600
for low-income dependent students at
community colleges, public universities, and
private institutions respectively. For middle-income
students net price before loans was
$8,000, $11,000, and $13,000 respectively. After
loans were taken into consideration, first,
second, and third quintile dependent students at
public universities had the lowest net price for
their respective income quintiles. For first
quintile students, after loans, the net price at a
public university was $2,500, followed by
$2,600 at private institutions, and $3,200 at
community colleges. Even though community
colleges had lower overall costs, the availability
of financial aid at four-year institutions
compensated for this price difference. While
this suggests that the availability of financial aid
makes choice among different types of
institutions a viable option in Illinois, the
majority of low-income students who chose to
attend a four-year institution incurred substantial
loan indebtedness. Net price was also compared
to the EFC and only for fourth and fifth quintile
students at four-year institutions did the EFC
consistently exceed net price.
EFC Comparison
The federal need analysis exacts a greater EFC
from certain independent students – those with
no dependents – at comparable income levels
than from other students. To determine whether
independent students at the same relative family
financial strength as dependent students, were as
likely to receive the same amount of aid,
comparisons were made across EFC ranges
rather than income quintiles. The least difference
in remaining need between dependency types
across all categories was at public universities;
in the $0-999 EFC category remaining need was
less for independents than dependents at this
school type. Generally, however, remaining
need for independents exceeded that for
dependent students when assessed by EFC
categories.
Conclusion
The most critical sources of financial aid for
Illinois students are the Federal Pell Grant, the
state MAP grant, federal student loans, and
institutional gift aid. Unmet need will continue
to grow for students as college costs increase
unless these sources of funding keep pace. This
will require a joint commitment to the unwritten
contract of funding higher education for students
with need – the state will have to place a high
priority on MAP funding, the federal
government will need to be pressured to raise
Pell grant maximums, loan limits will need
increased while holding interest rates down so
overall indebtedness doesn’t grow, and
institutions will need to re-examine every
available funding source for revenue streams
which can be committed to student aid.
