State Funding per Student Drops for First Time Since 2012

States and localities spent $130.7 billion on higher education in fiscal year 2025—the highest sum since 1980, when the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association started tracking public appropriations for higher education. Despite the record spending total, per-student spending declined for the first time since 2012, according to SHEEO’s latest State Higher Education Finance report, published today.

After adjusting for inflation, total state spending grew 2.6 percent during fiscal 2025, but the bump wasn’t enough to keep up with enrollment growth—full-time student enrollment at public institutions grew by 3.6 percent during 2024, to 10.8 million students.

Inflation-adjusted, per-student state and local higher education spending declined by 1 percent, from $12,205 per student in fiscal 2024 to $12,082 per student in fiscal 2025. After accounting for inflation, fiscal 2025 per-student appropriations were still 9.2 percent higher than in 2008 and 16.4 percent higher than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Total inflation-adjusted revenue per full-time student fell by 1.9 percent to $19,443, marking the third consecutive year of declines.

“While we are encouraged that public funding remained strong in 2025 and enrollment has continued to recover from pandemic lows, the first reduction in per-student funding in more than a decade suggests we are moving into a period of increased volatility,” SHEEO president Rob Anderson said in a news release. “Funding public higher education helps states achieve affordability, attainment, and meet workforce goals, so maintaining a stable and predictable funding environment is important for states to receive a strong and continued return on their investment.”

Although national state spending totals have swelled, 24 states continue to spend less on higher education than they did before the pandemic, the SHEEO report shows. Louisiana , Nevada and New Hampshire spent the least on higher education per student in fiscal 2025, while Delaware, Illinois and Michigan spent the most. Illinois remains an outlier—appropriating more than twice as much money as the national average—due in part to “efforts to address its historically underfunded state retirement pension system,” the report states.