Office of the Vice President for Academic Planning & Policy  |  Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 SECTION 1: DEMOGRAPHICS

• Q1: Gender
• Q2: Age
• Q3: Ethnicity
• Q4: Campus
• Q5: Student Type
• Q6: Residency
• Q7: Tuition Type
• Q8: Financial Dependancy
• Q9: Household Income
• Q10: Education Attainment-Mother
• Q12: Education Attainment-Father
• Q14: High School Type
• Q15: College Access Program
• Q16: Plan to Work
• Q17: Work Hours
• Q18: FAFSA
• Q19: Received Aid
• Q20: Factor in Enrollment

 SECTION 2: OPINIONS

• 21: Financial aid is available
• 22: Had adequate information about
• 23: How to get financial aid
• 24: Cost of attending of my UH campus
• 25: Financial aid makes difference
• 26: Types of financial aid available
• 27: Requires accepting too many loans
• 28: Requires high GPA or test scores
• 29: Aid is given to those with high GPA
• 30: Not eligible
• 31: Financial aid embarrassing
• 32: FAFSA is worthwhile to complete
• 33: Tuition & fees affordable
• 34: Application deadlines reasonable
• 35: Timing notification deters students
• 36: Parents/counselors/teachers/others provide enough help

 SECTION 3: REASONS

• 37: Reasons DID NOT APPLY
• 38: Reasons DID APPLY

SECTION 2: OPINIONS ON FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Please indicate whether you Strongly Agree, Agree, Somewhat Agree, Somewhat Disagree, Disagree or Strongly Disagree with the following statements:

 

21. Financial aid is available to students with financial need.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	38.7%
Agree	32.6%
Somewhat Agree	20.5%
Somewhat Disagree	3.2%
Disagree	3.4%
Strongly Disagree	1.7%

71% Strongly Agree or Agree that financial aid is available to those in need; 21% Somewhat Agree with this statement. Of the remaining 8% who disagree with this statement, about 2% Strongly Disagree.

 

22. Before I applied to my UH campus, I had adequate information about what financial aid is.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	20.0%
Agree	38.4%
Somewhat Agree	28.7%
Somewhat Disagree	6.3%
Disagree	4.9%
Strongly Disagree	1.7%

More than half (58%) Strongly Agree or Agree that they had adequate information about financial aid. Another quarter (29%) Somewhat Agree with this statement. The remaining 13% disagree.

 

23. Before I applied to my UH campus, I had adequate information about how to get financial aid.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	17.2%
Agree	35.3%
Somewhat Agree	29.5%
Somewhat Disagree	8.3%
Disagree	7.1%
Strongly Disagree	2.7%

More than one-half (53%) Strongly Agree or Agree that they had access to information prior to applying to their respective UH campus. Another third (30%) Somewhat Agree. The remaining 18% disagree.

 

24. The cost of attending of my UH campus is high for me.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	23.0%
Agree	24.4%
Somewhat Agree	31.6%
Somewhat Disagree	11.3%
Disagree	8.0%
Strongly Disagree	1.7%

Slightly less than one-half (47%) indicated they Strongly Agree or Agree that the cost of attending their UH campus is high for them. One-third (32%) Somewhat Agree while the remaining 20% disagree to varying degrees.

 

25. Financial aid makes a significant difference in what a student pays for college.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	57.2%
Agree	29.8%
Somewhat Agree	10.3%
Somewhat Disagree	1.4%
Disagree	0.8%
Strongly Disagree	0.4%

87% Strongly Agree or Agree that aid makes a significant difference in what a student pays for college. 10% Somewhat Agree with this statement. Only 3% disagree.

 

26. Information about the various types of financial aid is readily available.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	16.4%
Agree	38.4%
Somewhat Agree	29.6%
Somewhat Disagree	10.3%
Disagree	3.8%
Strongly Disagree	1.5%

More than one-half (55%) of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree that information on various types of aid are readily available. Another 30% Somewhat Agree with this statement. The remaining 16% disagree to varying degrees.

 

27. Receiving financial aid would require accepting too many loans.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	6.5%
Agree	14.7%
Somewhat Agree	28.5%
Somewhat Disagree	25.2%
Disagree	19.1%
Strongly Disagree	6.1%

Respondents shared mixed opinions about this statement, with 50% agreeing and the other 50% disagreeing.

 

28. Receiving financial aid requires a high GPA or standardized test scores.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	5.8%
Agree	17.8%
Somewhat Agree	29.2%
Somewhat Disagree	18.9%
Disagree	19.5%
Strongly Disagree	8.7%

Responses were split on this statement, with slightly more than half (53%) agreeing to some extent that receiving financial aid requires a high GPA or standardized test scores. The largest group (29%) only Somewhat Agree with this statement while 19% Somewhat Disagree. 18% Agree and another 20% Disagree.

 

29. I believe more financial aid is given to those with high GPA's and test scores.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	11.5%
Agree	22.0%
Somewhat Agree	24.5%
Somewhat Disagree	17.2%
Disagree	15.5%
Strongly Disagree	9.3%

Compared to the previous statement, a slightly larger percentage (58%) agree to some extent that more aid is awarded to those with high GPAs and test scores. One-fourth (25%) Somewhat Agree and nearly another fourth (22%) Agree. One-third Somewhat Disagree or Disagree. 12% Strongly Agree with this statement while 9% Strongly Disagree.

 

30. I do not believe I am eligible for financial aid.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	5.2%
Agree	9.3%
Somewhat Agree	10.2%
Somewhat Disagree	15.9%
Disagree	28.6%
Strongly Disagree	30.8%

One out of every four respondents believes to some extent they are not eligible for aid. 5% Strongly Agree, 9% Agree, and 10% Somewhat Agree. The remaining 75% disagree with this statement to varying degrees. 31% Strongly Disagree, 29% Disagree, and 16% Somewhat Disagree.

 

31. Being a financial aid recipient would be embarrassing to me.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	0.4%
Agree	0.7%
Somewhat Agree	2.1%
Somewhat Disagree	4.4%
Disagree	23.6%
Strongly Disagree	68.7%

Only 3% indicated being a financial aid recipient would be embarrassing to them. Most respondents (92%) Disagree or Strongly Disagree with this statement.

 

32. The financial aid application (FAFSA) is worthwhile to complete.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	56.4%
Agree	24.4%
Somewhat Agree	13.4%
Somewhat Disagree	3.2%
Disagree	1.7%
Strongly Disagree	0.9%

More than half of respondents (56%) Strongly Agree that completing the FAFSA is worthwhile. Another one-fourth (24%) also Agree and 13% Somewhat Agree. The remaining 6% disagree to some extent.

 

33. The tuition and fees of my campus were affordable enough without financial aid.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	2.7%
Agree	10.7%
Somewhat Agree	19.9%
Somewhat Disagree	19.0%
Disagree	23.0%
Strongly Disagree	24.9%

Two out of every three respondents disagree to some extent that tuition and fees at their campus were affordable without aid. The largest groups Strongly Disagree (25%) or Disagree (23%) while an additional 19% Somewhat Disagree. By contrast, 20% Somewhat Agree that tuition and fees were affordable enough without aid.

 

34. The deadlines and suggested deadlines to apply for financial aid are reasonable.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	14.4%
Agree	45.4%
Somewhat Agree	27.7%
Somewhat Disagree	7.3%
Disagree	4.1%
Strongly Disagree	1.1%

Most respondents (88%) agree to some extent that the deadlines and suggested deadlines are reasonable. Among those, the largest group Agree (45%) with this statement.

 

35. The timing of financial aid notification deters students from attending college.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	4.0%
Agree	9.3%
Somewhat Agree	25.6%
Somewhat Disagree	28.4%
Disagree	26.6%
Strongly Disagree	6.0%

The responses to this statement were somewhat mixed, with about one-fourth either indicating they Somewhat Agree (26%), Somewhat Disagree (28%), or Disagree (27%).

 

36. Parents/counselors/teachers/others provide enough help for students to apply for aid.

Opinion	% of Respondents
Strongly Agree	15.5%
Agree	36.5%
Somewhat Agree	29.8%
Somewhat Disagree	10.7%
Disagree	4.9%
Strongly Disagree	2.6%

82% agree to some extent that enough help is provided for students to apply for aid. Among them, 16% Strongly Agree, 37% Agree, and 30% Somewhat Agree. 11% Somewhat Disagree about the level of support available from parents/counselors/teachers/others.

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