Public colleges and universities are funded through a combination of many sources, the best known of which is state support – tuition and fees. Another major source of the total funding picture is sponsored programs from the federal government and other sources.

When all sources of revenue are considered, tuition and fees accounted for 27.5 percent of revenues in 2003, up from 26.8 percent in 1996. This compares to about 27.9 percent nationally.

The proportion of the state’s support of higher education budgets has declined since 1996. That year, 62 percent of institutional budgets were funded from state appropriations, whereas for FY 2005, only 50.3 percent of institutional budgets were covered by state funds. As a result, tuition has increased to meet the loss of state funding.