Science in the Triangle

College is expensive and about two-thirds of all students who continue their education past high school receive some type of financial aid. This year, the U.S. Department of Education will spend about $116 billion on student financial aid.

The investment reflects how important college degrees are to the economy, the labor pool and the standard of living in the U.S.

But does student financial aid work? What is the taxpayers’ return on the investment?

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded RTI International a $70 million contract to find out.

RTI, a Research Triangle Park institute that employs about 2,800 researchers and technical experts, has collected data on postsecondary students who receive financial aid since 1996. The new, 10-year contract is an expansion and an extension of this work.

The research “provides data that collectively give a comprehensive picture of postsecondary outcomes and their relationship to financial aid,” said John Riccobono, vice president of RTI’s education studies division. (Photo at right.)

“The results of this study will help researchers and federal policy makers better understand and address the affordability of college for families and the effectiveness of financial aid programs,” Riccobono said.

Under the contract, RTI will provide a snapshot of who the students are and what type of aid they receive. The data will come from a nationally representative survey of 120,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students called National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, or NPSAS.

The survey is conducted every three to four years and includes attendance patterns, type of institution attended and demographic information such as family income.

In addition to the snapshot from the NPSAS survey, RTI will track 23,000 students who are starting their postsecondary education during the 2011-2012 academic year. The Beginning Postsecondary Students study will follow the students for five years and collect outcome data such as degree completion and employment information.

The student sample in the two studies represents about 24 million undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S.