SwampFox

Increases in Tuition and Feed equal declines in State Appropriations

Submitted by: John Warner on Oct 03, 2010 at 11:27 pm Tagged with: Higher Education Source: Swamp Fox

The debate over the funding of higher education results in an almost overwhelming tsunami of confusing numbers. One chart of revenue sources at USC for 10 years pieces together what has happened. (Source: Slide 7 of USC FY2010-2011 Proposed Budget) Over 10 years, the total of "State Appropriations" plus "Tuition and Fees" at USC is within a few percentage points of flat. The legislature used to fund universities directly, and now they fund Life and Palmetto Scholarships, which students pay to the universities. So,

• Money going into a university accounting bucket called "State Appropriations" has gone down.

• Money going into a university accounting bucket called "Tuition and Fees" has gone up.
• At the end of the day, the percentage of USC's budget funded by the legislature either directly or indirectly is roughly the same.