Dive Brief:
- After four years of declines, state and local support for higher education operations rose 1.4% to $6,105 per full-time equivalent student in 2013, according to a new report.
- Net tuition, or the student’s share of higher education revenue, grew steadily since the early 1980s and reached 47.4% of total educational revenue in 2013. In 1988, it was 23.8%; in 2008 it was 35.6%.
- Of $81.6 billion in state and local spending on higher education in 2013, 76.5% was allocated to general operating expenses of public higher education, with 12.2% for special purpose or restricted state appropriations for research, agricultural extension, and medical education.
Dive Insight:
The figures come from the 11th annual State Higher Education Finance report for fiscal 2013. While state and local support for higher education has begun to rebound from the Great Recession, the recovery is slower than the one following the recession of the early 2000s. While state appropriations for higher education are predicted to increase 5.7%, the student’s share of the cost is growing at a faster pace — “a trend that is likely unsustainable,” according to the report.
