2008 NACAC Discussion Paper
With an economy in turmoil and college costs at historic highs, students and families will doubtlessly make critical college decisions with their financial well-being in mind.
While almost all colleges and universities continue to admit students regardless of their socio-economic status, less than one-third of all colleges are able to offer financial aid packages that meet the full financial need of all of the students they admit, 
according to a report released by NACAC (Members Only Access).
NACAC commissioned the research to reassess ways in which financial need and financial aid are considered and utilized in the admission process.
Other research findings include:
Nearly four in five colleges use standardized admission test scores as eligibility criteria for institutional merit aid. The NACAC Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admission recently reiterated the requirement, included in NACAC’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice, that colleges not use admission test cutscores as the sole criterion for financial aid eligibility.
Colleges continue to increase the amount of merit aid offered to students at the expense of need-based aid. In 1994, colleges and universities overall reported that 27 percent of their institutional aid funds were merit-based and 66 percent need-based; in 2007, 43 percent reported that their institutional aid funds were merit-based, compared to 49 percent need-based.
Control over financial aid and admission policy has increasingly shifted to enrollment management and/or financial aid managers, and shifted slightly away from faculty, presidents, and boards of trustees.
Differential packaging of financial aid awards is heavily utilized by private colleges, though not by public universities. Colleges that practice differential packaging offered preferential aid packages most frequently based on academic merit (93 percent), particular talents (50 percent), and income level (39 percent).
The report was written by Donald E. Heller, Professor of Education and Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University, for NACAC.
This is a Members Only report.