State lawmakers awarded about $14.9 billion in student financial aid in the 2021–22 academic year, a slight increase of 1 percent compared to the year before. That’s one of the findings from the annual survey of the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs.
According to the report, the majority of state aid (87 percent) was distributed as grants, which equaled roughly 4.1 million grants totaling about $13 billion. This represents an increase of about 0.8 percent from the $12.9 billion in grants awarded in 2020-21.
Of the grant money awarded in 2021-22, about 73 percent was need-based and about 27 percent was non-need based, a breakout consistent with historical data.
Eight states (California, Texas, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania) collectively again awarded about 6.4 billion in undergraduate need-based grant aid, accounting for about 68.7 percent of all aid of this type.