This report describes the methods and procedures used for the 2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04). NPSAS:04 is a comprehensive study of financial aid among postsecondary education students in the United States and Puerto Rico that provides information on trends in financial aid and on the ways in which families pay for postsecondary education. NPSAS:04 included important changes from previous NPSAS surveys (conducted in 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, and 2000) in its sample design and collection of data. For example, the current study is the first in the NPSAS series to utilize a web-based instrument for both self- and telephone-administration. Another important change is that NPSAS:04 was designed to provide state-level representative estimates for undergraduate students within three institutional strata—public 2-year institutions; public 4-year institutions; and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions for 12 states that were categorized into three groups based on population size—four large, four medium, and four small: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas. These states were chosen for this “demonstration” study from a set of volunteering states that expressed interest and a willingness to support and encourage participation by their institutions. However, sufficient comparability in survey design and instrumentation was maintained to ensure that important comparisons with past NPSAS studies could be made.
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