Millions of students eligible to receive financial aid do not because they simply forgo applying.

The American Council on Education released a study Monday showing half the 8 million undergraduates enrolled in 1999-2000 at colleges and universities participating in federal student aid programs did not apply for federal aid.

Jacqueline King, director of policy analysis at the ACE, said researchers were “definitely surprised” by the report’s findings.

The U.S. Department of Education financed the report, which “analyzes the rate at which undergraduates failed to file a financial aid application and describes the characteristics of those who did not apply, disaggregating the data by student dependency status, income, attendance status and institution type,” according to the ACE.

Some students who forewent applying were wealthy and ineligible for federal student aid. But the report found that 1.7 million low- and moderate-income students also failed to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The percentage of students who did not apply varied by the type of institution attended, with students at community colleges far less likely to apply for aid than individuals attending any other institution, the report found.

Sixty-seven percent of community college students did not apply for federal aid, nor did 42 percent at public four-year colleges or 13 percent at private colleges. Full-time students were more likely to apply than those attending school half time or less.

Steve Van Ess, University of Wisconsin director of financial aid, said more than 44,000 people apply for financial aid at UW.

“Working from memory, I’d say 55 or 56 percent of undergraduates receive some kind of financial aid,” he said, adding the UW student body as a whole receives $225 million each year in financial aid.

The ACE study concluded 850,000 students nationwide who did not apply would likely have been eligible for a Pell Grant, which is the principle federal grant for low-income students.

“That’s the group that should be targeted,” Van Ess said, adding that most of the money students qualify for is in student loans. “I’m not sure there’s this big balk of grant recipients out there that hasn’t thought to apply- but there are some [people].”

King said the ACE does not have any data to explain the study’s results, but researchers believe there are three main reasons why many students failed to apply for federal aid. “The first is there are still students out there who don’t know about financial aid,” King said. “Then there are some students who assume that the money is there for somebody other than them. Some students are just really put off by the process.”

King said she hopes the study will encourage more students to apply.

Van Ess said he frequently reminds students applying for financial aid does not cost anything.

“I try to tell people, be sure to apply every year,” he said. He said sometimes the financial aid eligibility rules change, as do students’ circumstances. “I’m sure there are some people out there who could get money and do not apply.”

New data will be available in 2005, and the ACE will likely produce another study, King said.