Total state support for higher education increased by 4.3% for fiscal year 2025, based on data recently released by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) in its annual Grapevine report.
However, after adjusting for the effects of inflation, the increase was a more modest 1.3%. The level of support from FY 2019 (prior to the pandemic) to FY 2025 increased 38% (See Figure 1). Even after adjusting for inflation, state support increased by 9.4% across that time. Figure 1 demonstrates the impact that Covid had on the level of state support for higher education for FY 2021, where support decreased nearly 1% from FY 2020 to FY 2021 after adjusting for inflation.
While the overall trend for state support increased between FY 2019 and FY 2025, there was significant variation across states. After adjusting for the effect of inflation, Alaska’s support for higher education decreased by 17.3% between FY 2019 and FY 2025, while Virginia saw a 41.8% increase. Twelve states saw a decrease in inflation-adjusted support across this time period…