Data on financial aid applicants are presented, based on 1980 findings from High School and Beyond (HS&B), a national longitudinal study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The information was obtained from parent responses to questions about the financing of education for their children, along with student questionnaire responses. Fifty-one percent of the 1980 high school seniors who aspired to continue their education (college, vocational, or technical postsecondary training) applied for student financial aid by the fall of that year. The rates of application varied as a function of student plans, inclinations, and aspirations; family wealth; family size; parent knowledge of financial aid programs; and expected schooling costs. Several of these factors appeared to have as significant a relationship with rates of application for aid as did family wealth. For example, the amount of parental knowledge about the Pell grant program was strongly related to differences in application rates. These differences were greater than those associated with family income or amount of savings for college. After controlling for family income, the factors showing the strongest relationship with application rates were parental knowledge, students' high school grades, and expected schooling costs. (SW)