The purpose of this study was to examine parental actions to finance higher education. Data were analyzed from the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS: 96).

Results of this study indicated that gender, race, housing status, and attendance status of students were factors in the amount of loans that was assumed by parents. Further results indicated that parent'9s marital status, total parent contribution, parent income, the cost of attending, and institutional control were also factors in the amount of loans that were assumed by parents.

The age of students and the amount of parent savings did not effect the percentage of parents who assumed loans nor did it effect the amount of loans that were assumed by parents.

Recommendations for future research include a continued focus on how families, as a whole, are financing higher education, repayment practices and default rates of parents who assumed loans to pay for higher education, specific types of loans that parents use to fund higher education, parental debt and what ratio of their debt is due to educational loans.