States Are Taking on Fewer College Costs. Who Is Picking Up the Bill?

Students’ share of higher education funding hit the lowest levels in more than a decade in 2022, amounting to 37.6% of the total, according to a recent study from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. That proportion, however, still remains higher than what students paid at the outset of the Great Recession. State funding’s share has risen in recent years, reaching 39.6% in 2022. But that rate was still well below the 49.2% levels seen in 2008, the highest recorded in the study. Since then, the proportion of funding from grants — which includes Pell Grants, as well as discounts and allowances toward tuition and fees — has steadily ticked upward. By 2022, the number stood at 15.7%, compared to 9.4% in 2008.