With Millennials Graduating, Gen Z May Face Lighter College Debt

Public colleges and universities, which educate the majority of American postsecondary students, have had a tough century so far. Per-student funding from state and local governments has dropped 20 percent since 2001, adjusted for inflation, and was 7 percent lower in 2018 than in 1980.

This data, from a report released in April by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, explains a lot about higher education in the U.S.—such as why tuition at public institutions is up 67 percent in real terms since 2001; why average student debt at graduation is more than double in real terms what it was in 1996; and why state universities have gone to such lengths to recruit out-of-state and foreign students, who pay more than in-staters.