Since 1960, Grapevine has published annual compilations of data on state tax support for higher education, including general fund appropriations for universities, colleges, community colleges, and state higher education agencies. Each year’s Grapevine survey has asked states for tax appropriations data for the new fiscal year and for revisions (if any) to data reported in previous years. The annual Grapevine reports have included tables showing (a) one-, two-, five- and ten-year percentage changes in tax appropriations, by state; (b) one- and two-year percent changes in state tax appropriations by region; (c) state tax appropriations per capita and per $1,000 of personal income, by state; and (d) state tax appropriations for community colleges, by state.
This year marks a major change for Grapevine, which is now produced by Illinois State University’s Center for the Study of Education Policy in cooperation with the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO). The Grapevine survey has been consolidated with the annual survey used by SHEEO in its State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) project. This consolidated questionnaire asks for data that will be used to create the State Support for Higher Education Database. This database will, in turn, be used to produce both the annual Grapevine tables, which provide a first look at state appropriations for the new fiscal year, and the annual SHEF report, which offers a more complete examination of trends in total state support for higher education, factoring in inflation and enrollment. The use of one questionnaire simplifies data collection procedures, limits the burden placed on state offices, and creates a more comprehensive picture of state fiscal support for higher education, including both tax and nontax state monies.
Beginning with Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, this consolidation will result in two changes in the way Grapevine data are reported. First, Grapevine reports will provide only state totals. The new, consolidated questionnaire does not ask states to provide appropriations figures for individual colleges and universities. However, the Grapevine tables will provide separate totals for both state tax appropriations and other forms of state fiscal support for higher education (such as lottery monies and interest income). Thus, the Grapevine tables will track trends in both state tax effort on behalf of higher education and total state support.
Second, new data for FY2010 will not be published until all states have provided their figures. (In the past, state tables have been posted as they arrived.) The data for FY2010 are now being collected, and we anticipate that national tables showing FY2010 data (and revisions for FY2009) will be posted at some point between December 15, 2009, and January 15, 2010. The FY2010 data will, of course, represent initial figures that are subject to change as states balance their budgets in a very uncertain economy.
Thank you for your patience as we make this transformation. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
James C. Palmer, Editor
