State Higher Ed Spending on the Rise in 2015

States are poised to provide 3.6 percent more in higher education operating support in 2015 than they did in 2014, an informal survey by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities shows. Of the 49 states that have passed a budget, 43 increased higher education funding for the new fiscal year, while only six cut funding.

The data were included in an eight-page fact sheet on budgetary and legislative issues facing the nation’s public universities. The policy update gives a quick but thorough scan of everything from state unemployment rates, policy trends — from guns on campus to “pay it forward” schemes — to the partisan composition of statehouses.