By Eric Kelderman
An annual report on state spending on higher education is mostly good news, at least for the fiscal year just past.
But widen the lens, and the focus muddies: Half of the states are still appropriating less for higher education than they did five years ago.
And the prospects for future spending are clouded by falling oil prices and state lawmakers’ resistance to raising taxes.
Over all, states increased appropriations for higher education by more than 5 percent from the 2014 to the 2015 fiscal years.
That’s the second consecutive annual increase after four years of declines or nominal growth, according to the “Grapevine” report, a joint project of the Center for the Study of Education Policy, at Illinois State University, and the Association of State Higher Education Executive Officers.
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