State Higher Education Finance, FY2011

This week the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) released their ninth annual trends report on state funding for higher education. Some highlights include:

• In the last five years, college full-time enrollment (FTE) at public institutions of higher education increased 16.9% nationally.  Oregon experienced the greatest increase in enrollment (33.6%) and Maine the least (8.7%).  Over the last decade, FTE enrollment increased nationally by approximately 33%.


• State and local appropriations, adjusted for inflation, for public higher education (not including special purpose or restricted state appropriations for research, agricultural extension, and medical education) fell by 1.4% between 2010 and 2011. Over the longer term, state and local support for public higher education is up 2.2% over the last 5 years, up .5% over the last 10 years, and up 28.6% over the last 25 years.


• Even with increases in total dollar state and local support for public higher education, the growth in student full-time enrollment has outstripped increases in appropriations resulting in decreases in educational appropriations per FTE. Educational appropriations per FTE adjusted for inflation fell 3.7% in 2011 to $6290, fell 12.5% since 2006 ($7192), fell 24.4% since 2001 ($8316), and were down 21.6% since 1986 ($8025).


• Of the $87.5 billion in state and local support appropriated during 2011,77.6%($67.9B) was allocated for general operating expenses; 11.9% ($10.4B) was for special purpose appropriations (research, agricultural extension, and medical education); and 9.8%($8.6B)  was used for state-funded student financial aid..


• Net tuition, adjusted for inflation, continues to grow as a percent of total educational revenue. While in 1986, net tuition made up 23.2% of total educational revenue, in 2001 it represented 29.4% of total revenue, in 2006 it represented 36.6% of total revenue, in 2010 it represented 41.2% of total revenue, and in 2011 it represented 43.3% of total revenue.