<p>The linked report has data on the average spending per student on higher education in each state.</p>
<p>The chart on page no. 28 shows the average change in state spending per student from FY 2005 to fy 2010. My own state, Pennsylvania, had the 10th worst cut in funding - BEFORE the 20 to 30% cuts that went in effect in the last year. It shows Rhode Island, New Mexico and Michigan had the largest cuts. (Michigan was in a severe recession before the rest of the US).</p>
<p>Page number 29 shows the average spending as of fy 2010 for each student per full-time equivalent student in a public college. PA. was 39th out of 50 states. The lowest four states were New Hampshire, Colorado, Montana and Ohio.</p>
<p>This should be “must” reading for anyone assessing the increases in college tuition on an institution-by-institution level. University education did not become cheaper to provide just because state appropriations were reduced.</p>
<p>California has the lowest total revenue per FTE student in higher education… but the FTE enrollment numbers listed indicate that “higher education” includes community colleges as well as state universities (1.9 million in 2010, but there are only 0.5 million in UC and CSU combined).</p>
<p>Does California have a significantly larger percentage of higher education students in community colleges than other states do?</p>
<p>Apparently, total revenue (including tuition and state spending) per FTE student is very low in California compared to other states, based on the charts.</p>
<p>However, if California has a higher percentage of students in (inexpensive) community colleges versus (expensive) four year state universities than other states do, then that is an obvious explanation. The question is, is that the case?</p>
<p>Yup, big cuts in Michigan. At my public Michigan school, I’m paying around $445 per credit hour. That’s not including fees and such. When I was a freshmen 2 years ago, I was paying around $350. Albeit, some of that is from moving to upperclassmen rates, but it’s still been about a $35 jump each year per credit hour for freshmen.</p>
<p>ucbalum, good question. I do know that because of state budget cuts, the UCs and CSUs have faced huge tuition increases over the past couple of years, and there’s more coming if the voter don’t pass the governor’s tax measure. As far as our community colleges go, I think the big problem isn’t so much tuition, but lack of space, also caused by budget cuts. Those students are being turned away by the hundreds of thousands.</p>