2021
STATE FUNDING TO PUBLIC COLLEGES SURPASSESEXPECTATIONS AMID HISTORIC DECLINES INSTUDENT ENROLLMENT AND TUITION REVENUE.

Generous federal stimulus funding protected state revenues and directly
supported higher education, enabling states to increase funding in 2021 despitea pandemic and short economic recession. However, sharp declines in student
enrollment and tuition revenue signal continued upheaval for public higher
education revenues. In the midst of this uncertainty, the SHEF report provides
a comprehensive look at trends in higher education revenues in fiscal year 2021.

FISCAL YEAR 2021 MARKS THE TENTHCONSECUTIVE YEAR OF ENROLLMENT
DECLINES.
Student enrollment has typically increased following an economic recession. Yet,in fiscal year 2021, enrollment dropped 3.0%, resulting in a loss of 323,952
students. This is the largest drop in net FTE enrollment since the start of the SHEF
dataset in 1980. Two-year institutions were hit the hardest in 43 states, resulting ina national-level net FTE enrollment decline of 6.1% from 2020 to 2021, compared
to only 0.9% at four-year institutions.

FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDING
CUSHIONED STATE BUDGETS
AND BOOSTED EDUCATIONAPPROPRIATIONS.
Out of the $113.2 billion in state and local funding to all higher education in2021, federal stimulus funding distributed to higher education made up 3.2%,
or $3.7 billion, of these funds. Two-year institutions received $214 per FTE infederal stimulus for public operating in 2021, while four-year institutions
received $288 per FTE.

FEDERAL

THANKS IN PART TO BILLIONSIN FEDERAL STIMULUS
FUNDING, PER-STUDENTEDUCATION APPROPRIATIONSINCREASED IN 2021.

STATE

State and local governments provided $9,327 per full-time equivalent (FTE)
student to public institutions, an increase of $400 per FTE, or 4.5%, in
inflation-adjusted education appropriations. Historically, education
appropriations per FTE have decreased following economic recessions.
While states’ increased commitments to higher education should be celebrated,
this trend can also be attributed to the sharp decline in FTE enrollment andgenerous federal stimulus funding. Without federal stimulus funds, inflationadjusted per-student education appropriations would have increased by only
2.0%. Had FTE enrollment held constant and had states not directed federal
stimulus funding toward higher education, education appropriations would
have declined 1.0% this year.

STATE PUBLIC FINANCIAL
AID CONTINUED TO
INCREASE SHARPLY.
In fiscal year 2021, inflation-adjusted state public financial aid rose 8.8%, reachingan all-time high of $921 per FTE. These funds accounted for 79.8% of total state
financial aid funding and made up 9.9% of education appropriations. This is thelargest ever proportion of all education appropriations.
More than twice the average state financial aid was awarded to students
attending four-year institutions than students at two-year institutions.

NET TUITION DECLINED FOR
THE THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR,MARKING THE SECOND-LARGEST
EVER DECREASE.
Over the last 25 years, net tuition and fee revenue per FTE has grown 56.6%.
However, inflation-adjusted net tuition and fee revenue has declined in more thanhalf of all states since 2016 and 72% of states over the last year. Public institutions
received, on average, $6,723 in net tuition revenue from in-state and out-of-statestudents in 2021, down 3.2% ($224) from last year.

TOTAL EDUCATION REVENUEREACHED AN ALL-TIME
HIGH THANKS TO FEDERALSTIMULUS FUNDING.
Inflation-adjusted total education revenue increased by 1.1% to $15,959 per
FTE in 2021. Excluding federal stimulus, total education revenue declined 0.3%.
Additionally, total education revenues only reached a record high in 18 statesand varied substantially by institution type—four-year institutions had 1.51 times
the total revenue of two-year institutions.

Want to learn more? Access the full SHEF report and interactive datavisualizations at SHEF.SHEEO.org. To view the findings for an individualstate, see SHEF.SHEEO.org/state-profile.

@SHEEOEd