paid

Only parent borrowing decreased, and that was by less than
1 percent. While parent borrowing decreased overall, the
average amount paid from the federal PLUS program almost
doubled (from $487 to $895).
Impact of Income
Not surprisingly, the resources used to pay for college were
distributed differently among income segments.
• Parents in high-income families paid more than half of
college costs, with 45 percent coming from their savings
and income, and only 7 percent from borrowed money.
• Middle-income parents paid more than one-third of
college costs, 28 percent from savings and income, and
7 percent from borrowed money.
• Parents in low-income families paid one-quarter of
college costs, 21 percent from savings and income and
4 percent from borrowed money.
Among students, however, this pattern of contributions was
inverted. Students in low-income families paid a higher share
of their college costs, 32 percent, than students in middleincome
(29%) or high-income (19%) families. Across all
three income groups, students paid a larger portion of
their contributions from borrowing than from their savings
or income.
Both the portion of total college costs paid from grants and
scholarships, as well as the balance of grant vs. scholarship
funding, differ by family income.
• Grants and scholarships covered 36 percent of costs of
low-income students, with a greater weight on grants
(20%) than scholarships (16%).
• Middle-income students used grants and scholarships
to pay for a slightly lower proportion (30%) of their
costs, with slightly more coming from scholarships
(17%) than grant aid (13%).
• Grants and scholarships paid for an even lower,
but still significant, portion of college costs among
high-income students (25%), but the majority of that
aid came from scholarships (18%) and a much smaller
portion from grants (7%)