where does the funding for public colleges come from
Public university Public universities generally rely on subsidies from their respective state government. "The historical data for private and public institutions reveal that public institutions have always been more dependent on external support than have private institutions."[22] Recently, state support of public universities has been declining, forcing many public universities to seek private support. The real level of state funding for public higher education has doubled from $30 billion in 1974 to nearly $60 billion in 2000. Meanwhile, the percent of state appropriations for the cost of schooling per student at public university has fallen from 78% in 1974 to 43% in 2000.[23] The increasing use of teaching assistants in public universities is a testament to waning state support.[24] To compensate, some professional graduate programs in law, business, and medicine rely almost solely on private funding.