You asked (1) how many and what percentage of freshmen at Connecticut's colleges and universities are Connecticut residents, (2) how many and what percentage receive financial aid, (3) for the breakdown in financial aid between loans and grants, and (4) for the average annual costs for in-state students at the University of Connecticut (UConn) and the Connecticut State Universities (CSU).

CONNECTICUT RESIDENTS

The Connecticut Department of Higher Education (DHE) tracks how many freshmen at the state's public and private universities are Connecticut residents. The numbers and percentages of in-state freshmen who are recent high school graduates are illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1: Connecticut College Freshmen From In-State

FINANCIAL AID

University of Connecticut

In FY 1999-2000, UConn reported that out of approximately 3,950 freshmen, 1,666 or 57% received loans averaging $ 3,782. According to UConn's Office of Financial Aid, 10,959 of its 14,050 undergraduates, or 78%, are on some sort of financial assistance. The average loan is $ 2,619, and the mean grant amount is $ 5,414. Most students are on a combination of grants and loans; the exact breakdown is not available.

Connecticut State University

At CSU, the percentage of undergraduates receiving loans has ranged from 40% to 54% over a period of years, with annual loans averaging between $ 2,800 to over $ 4,000. Pamela Kedderis, chief financial officer for the CSU system, is compiling information on how many CSU students receive financial aid and how it breaks down between loans and grants. We will forward that information to you when we receive it.

We have enclosed additional financial aid statistics from DHE for your reference.

TUITION AND FEES FOR IN-STATE STUDENTS

Table 2 shows the annual cost of tuition and fees for a full-time, undergraduate, in-state student at UConn and CSU (in dollars).

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