After years of budgets cuts for public colleges and universities, state funding for higher education is up an average of 5.7 percent in fiscal 2014.
Still, overall funding is not back to prerecession levels, and there is no guarantee that an increase in money will lead to cost-savings for students. But an annual report, released last week by Illinois State University, reflects an improving economic picture nationwide.
Support for higher education varies widely by state, with Florida increasing funding by nearly 18 percent, New Hampshire by 27 percent, and North Dakota by 19 percent in the past year, the report says. Louisiana and West Virginia are among the states that have declining state funding.
