the briefing room

According to a new report, total state support for higher education in the US fell by 7.6% from the 2011 to the 2012 fiscal years. As a whole, state spending on PSE is now nearly 4% lower than it was in the 2007 fiscal year, with 29 states appropriating less for PSE institutions this year than they did 5 years ago. The current year’s large decline was due partly to the expiration of approximately $40 billion in federal funding given to states to prop up education spending. Factoring out the federal stimulus funding, state support for institutions fell a little more than 4% from 2011 to 2012. The overall decline is also a result of the big drop in PSE spending in California, accounting for over a quarter of the total decrease in state support. The Chronicle of Higher Education (free access) (Academicagroup)