2001 Human Capital and Educational Expenses Mail Survey (HUMS)

In the fall of 2001, HUMS questionnaires were mailed to 3,862 households interviewed in the HRS 2000 core survey, and who were likely to have had at least one child (ever) 18 years of age or older. If a selected household had two panel members in it, one panel member was randomly selected to receive the questionnaire.

Data from 3,031 questionnaires are included in this release, for a simple response rate of 78.5%. The simple response rate does not adjust for mortality or undeliverable questionnaires. The HRS 2002 Tracker file notes that 3,040 questionnaires were returned (see the variable MCSTATUS), which is nine more than contained in the 2001 HRS HUMS data file. The nine cases were deleted from the 2001 HUMS Early Release data because the returned questionnaires did not contain responses to the questions.

The questions asked in this survey were designed to facilitate research in a number of areas including parental investment in the human capital of their children, the allocation of parental resources across their offspring, and the effect of educational expenditures on mid-life savings of parents. The current release contains questions about high school attendance, college attendance (number, duration, type), and the proportion of college expenses (tuition, food, housing) paid for by the parent of the child.

The expenses associated with attending a given college in a given year are NOT included in this dataset. This information will be calculated and released at some point in the future.