An FY25 decline in public higher ed funding raises questions about future trends
Recent Research: What is the labor market value of bachelor's degrees earned from community colleges?
A region’s high concentration of bachelor’s degree-holders predicts future economic growth
Discussions concerning the value of earning a bachelor's degree often center on the return on investment for the degree-holder. However, a recent article from Chicago Fed Insights illustrates that degree-holders, specifically their density in a community, also impacts whether or not their region will thrive in the coming decades.
Disruption is echoing in empty university halls
Vacant storefronts and empty downtown office buildings aren’t the only ways the pandemic-accelerated, technology-stimulated move to remote work has negatively impacted community cohesiveness, commitment to place, and economic opportunity resulting from aggregation. According to a newly released analysis of university campuses, the disconnection and under-utilization problem extends deeper into regions than many may realize.
Useful Stats: How do the largest higher education institutions fund their R&D expenditures?
FSGG appropriations language favors innovation programs
The Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill for FY 2026 passed the House of Representatives yesterday and now moves to the Senate where passage is also expected. The bill sets spending levels for several agencies supporting regional innovation, economic development, and investment. Foremost are the Treasury and Small Business Administration; selected highlights are provided below.
Useful Stats: Higher education R&D expenditures reach $117 billion in FY 2024
Higher Education R&D expenditures jumped 8%, or nearly $9 billion, from fiscal year (FY) 2023 to 2024, reaching an all-time high of over $117 billion, reveals new Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey data. The funding sources of HERD expenditures remain proportionally unchanged from the prior year, with all sources increasing, and the federal government ($5 billion) and institution funds ($2.5 billion) accounting for the largest dollar increases.
Higher Education R&D expenditures jumped 8%, or nearly $9 billion, from fiscal year (FY) 2023 to 2024, reaching an all-time high of over $117 billion, reveals new Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey data. The funding sources of HERD expenditures remain proportionally unchanged from the prior year, with all sources increasing, and the federal government ($5 billion) and institution funds ($2.5 billion) accounting for the largest dollar increases.
Adjusted for inflation, overall HERD expenditures increased by 5%—the second largest year-over-year increase in the past decade—while all sources of funds except business increased.
Useful Stats: A standardized look at state-level academic S&E article output
States invest heavily in academic research with the expectation that these efforts will advance scientific knowledge, support innovative industries, and strengthen local talent pipelines. Comparing research performance across state lines is difficult due to differences in academic landscapes: some may have large medical schools with high-cost labs, while others have research-active public universities in lower-cost fields or are more pedagogically focused.
Free college programs remain popular nationwide
Federal obligations for higher-ed S&E near an inflation-adjusted all-time high in 2023
In fiscal year (FY) 2023, federal obligations for science and engineering (S&E) to universities and colleges totaled $49 billion—$29 billion more than FY 2000, and a 10% increase from the prior year. The growth is less rapid when adjusted for inflation (2017 USD), with just over $40 billion in real obligations in FY 2023, a 5% increase over the year prior and $12.6 billion (or 46%) increase over the FY 2000 value.
A college degree may be worth the investment, but not for everyone
The short answer to the question, “Is college still worth it?” is, “It depends.”
Attending higher education institutions may impart an array of societal and personal development benefits. Still, one factor of increasing import that raises the question of the worthiness of attaining a college education in a market-driven economy is the personal cost involved. The question becomes even more pertinent based on three trends: rising costs, decreasing employment opportunities for college graduates and a fair share of Americans having little or no confidence in higher education.
Useful Stats: Higher education R&D steadily increased in the last decade, but not all fields shared the wealth
Higher education R&D (HERD) expenditures have steadily increased over time. They’ve soared past $100 billion in the most recent data year, fiscal year (FY) 2023, growing in every state. However, the gains are not shared equally in all fields of research.
Higher education R&D (HERD) expenditures have steadily increased over time. They’ve soared past $100 billion in the most recent data year, fiscal year (FY) 2023, growing in every state. However, the gains are not shared equally in all fields of research.
SSTI analyzed HERD Survey data, finding that in the 10 FYs since 2013, science R&D fields, led by the life sciences, were responsible for the largest dollar growths. In contrast, non-S&E fields, led by education, experienced the largest relative growth. SSTI has examined these shifts over the past decade at the national level and broken down expenditures by R&D field at the state and institutional level for FY 2023. This edition of Useful Stats provides the resulting comprehensive picture of HERD expenditures by R&D field.
Recent Research: Examining how student debt affects mobility
A recent Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City working paper explores the relationship between inter-state mobility, earnings gains, and initial wealth of young college graduates over time, highlighting the impact of debt. The paper Should I Stay or Should I Go? Inter-state Mobility and Earnings Gains of Young College Graduates by Andrew Glover and José Mustre-del-Río proposes a model to explain the decline in mobility.
Useful Stats: Two looks at state-level higher-ed R&D intensity
Readers may have noticed the most populous states end up topping many of the statistical tables related to economic development. Normalizing the data by some relevant, related measure can provide a higher quality look that is a little closer to the “apples to apples” appeal that might help influence some policy issues. For this week’s edition of Useful Stats, SSTI is exploring research intensity as a component of state gross domestic product (GDP) and the research load “carried” by each member of the R&D personnel within the state’s higher education community.
Useful Stats: State trends in higher education R&D expenditures
Higher education R&D expenditures, while continuing to steadily increase, have not grown evenly across state lines. This matters to successful TBED policymakers because a strong R&D enterprise within a state’s public and private institutions of higher education can and should provide a consistent source of skilled workers, new technology, and sources for innovation-driven business growth. So where is R&D growing?
Useful Stats: Higher education R&D expenditures soar past $100B in 2023
The most recent Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey revealed the largest year-over-year percentage increase in higher education R&D since 2002 to 2003 and dollar increase across all fiscal years (FYs) captured by the survey. HERD expenditures breached the $100 billion mark in 2023, having grown 11% from $97.8 billion in 2022 to $108.8 billion in 2023 (7% in constant 2017 dollars, from $82.9 to $89 billion).
Task force calls for a national strategy to enhance the value of higher education degrees
As SSTI reported earlier this fall in its series of articles on higher education, college tuition and student loan debt are rising.
Useful Stats: Roller coaster ride of state support for higher education from FY 1980-2024 continues
State support for higher education in the United States over the last four decades can best be characterized as having fluctuations and shifts in priorities. Using fiscal year (FY) 1980 as a starting point, while overall state support for higher education has grown, it has done so with volatility driven in part by decreased revenue as a result of recessions, and it has frequently taken years for state support to recover to pre-recession levels. In four states, state support on a constant 1983-dollar basis is still less than was spent in 1980.
Higher education: where do we stand?
In this Digest issue, SSTI continues its examination on the state of higher education. Today, we start with rising student loan debt, which research shows has dire consequences on borrowers, including delayed home ownership, hindered retirement savings, and financial stress.
Why is the cost of college rising so fast?
In the last 20 years, college tuition has doubled, making tuition and required fees the major component of the rising costs of attending college. Figure 1 shows that the average tuition and fees at public four-year schools increased by 84% between the 1999-2000 and 2019-2020 academic years, far faster than the 15.7% increase in median household income during that period (note this period was chosen to avoid pandemic era swings in data).
Addressing Ballooning Student Debt
Total student loan debt in the United States increased 558% from the first quarter of 2003 to the second quarter of 2024, increasing from $240 billion to $1.58 trillion, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data.
Higher education: where do we stand?
With classes resuming for the fall term, SSTI continues its reflection on the state of higher education. In last week's issue, today's and next week's, we’re examining where higher ed has been and where it currently stands. The post-secondary education system is the cornerstone of the American innovation system—as an R&D performer, moving research into the marketplace, offering technical assistance to companies, and supplying a skilled workforce.
Higher education’s dominant role in basic research continues 20-year decline
For the last 40 years, higher education has been the dominant performer of basic research in the United States, but there has been a slide in higher education’s share over the last 20 years as businesses have increased their performance of basic R&D (Figure 1). If the current trendline continues, businesses will soon surpass higher education as basic R&D performers and become the predominant basic R&D performer just as they have been in applied R&D for decades.
For the last 40 years, higher education has been the dominant performer of basic research in the United States, but there has been a slide in higher education’s share over the last 20 years as businesses have increased their performance of basic R&D (Figure 1). If the current trendline continues, businesses will soon surpass higher education as basic R&D performers and become the predominant basic R&D performer just as they have been in applied R&D for decades.
Community Colleges rising in prominence
By 2031, 72 percent of jobs in the US will require postsecondary education and/or training, according to a 2023 report by Georgetown University. The authors contend, “Postsecondary education is no longer just the preferred pathway to middle-class jobs—it is, increasingly, the only pathway.”
By 2031, 72 percent of jobs in the US will require postsecondary education and/or training, according to a 2023 report by Georgetown University. The authors contend, “Postsecondary education is no longer just the preferred pathway to middle-class jobs—it is, increasingly, the only pathway.”
But the average cost of college tuition and fees at public four-year institutions has risen 179.2% over the last two decades, according to the Education Data Initiative and a public seemingly less convinced about the worth of higher education,—two-year colleges, also referred to as community colleges or technical schools, are seen as a reliable alternative for a quality postsecondary education, and are valued for their affordability and accessibility to obtaining the degrees or credentials needed to ensure a dynamic and skilled national workforce.
Public attitudes toward higher education and its value
Public perceptions of higher education are complex and multifaceted. A Chronicle of Higher Education 2023 report found that while Americans believe in the value of a college credential, they are not convinced higher education is fulfilling its promise to society; nonetheless, many recent polls, surveys, and reports also conclude that people, whether they have a four-year degree or not, would advise others to pursue one.