Education in States and Nations: 1991
(ESN) Indicator 37:
Sources of funds for higher education
Tracking funds for higher education to their initial source
illuminates where
responsibility for financing higher education is actually assumed
in a nation
or state. Of total public expenditure on public and private
institutions of
higher education, this indicator separates the portions provided
initially by
each level of government - Central/Federal/International,
Regional/State, and
Local. It is important to note that the percentages measured
here represent
the initial source of funding, identifying the level of
government generating
the funds. This clarification is made necessary by the frequent
occurrence of
financial transfers between levels of government. For example,
in some
countries, central or regional governments disseminate a
significant share of
education funding to local authorities, who are ultimately
responsible for
distributing and administering the funds.
- In the United States, state and local governments provided
a greater
portion of public education funding for higher education
(62 plus 6
percent) than they did in 10 of the 11 other countries
reporting data
in 1991. Conversely, the percentage of funds derived
initially from
the central government was lowest in the United States (32
percent)
among all the nations except for Belgium (0 percent). The
United
States and Belgium were the only two nations in which the
share of
public funding of institutions of higher education from the
regional,
or state, level exceeded 50 percent (62 and 98 percent,
respectively).
- In 18 states, but in none of the other countries
represented here, the
share of public higher education expenditures provided at
the local
level was at least 5 percent. The largest proportion of
public
funding of higher education could be found at the state
level for
every state but Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Vermont,
where federal
funds were greatest.
Table 36b 
Figure 37
