The effects of financial aid on degree completion for Swedish postsecondary students were studied. Attention was focused on the effect of student social background, sex, and intelligence on utilization of study aid. Separate analyses were undertaken with different age groups and students in different study courses. Two student samples were studied: 12,000 individuals born in 1948, and 10,000 born in 1953. A weak tendency was found for students of high ability to use the aid more frequently than students of low ability, while social background had no influence. The frequency of study assistance utilization did not change very much for the various age groups. For open admissions courses, student sex was not found to be important to degree completion. However, for closed admission courses (i.e., those not usually selected by women), sex had an important effect on degree completion: women were more successful than men, and sex was as important as study aid to degree completion. It is suggested that a decreasing frequency of degree completion cannot be explained by changes in the study assistance system. It is concluded that study assistance is greatly important to degree completion and helps to bring about social equality. (SW)