According to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association’s (SHEEO) annual Grapevine report, state funding for higher education in fiscal 2025 rose 4.3% year over year before inflation and by approximately a third from five years ago. SHEEO defines State funding as tax appropriations, nontax support, nonappropriated support and returns from state-funded endowments. Excluding federal stimulus money, 41 states increased or maintained their higher ed funding while nine decreased their spending. Specifically, State allocations of federal funding rose 2.2% in fiscal 2025 compared to 2024. In 2020, states allocated over $10 billion of federal stimulus funding to higher ed to further assist with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, inflation in the sector has increased and costs for institutions rose 3.4 % in fiscal 2024 (HEPI).
