From the Chronicle of Higher Ed ($$$):
A new national survey shows that state spending on higher education is continuing to rise in most of the country and is growing faster than kudzu in much of the South.
Total state general-fund appropriations for higher education are up by 7 percent, to $72.18-billion, in the 2006-7 fiscal year, according to an annual survey conducted by the Center for the Study of Education Policy, at Illinois State University. Detailed statistics from the survey, including state-by-state and institution-by-institution breakdowns, are available here.
A picture from the article:
SOURCE: Center For The Study of Education Policy, Illinois State U.
I poked around the Grapevine website and could not find any information whether the dollar figureson which the conclusions are based are nominal or real values. From what I read, I assume they are not inflation-adjusted figures.
In any case, these figures reflect appropriations but not expenditures, but for those at "use it or lose it" institutions (places where your appropriations do not carry over year-to-year - and where they might decrease in subsequent years if they are not spent), these appropriations are largely spent. I'd also like to know how expense categories changed in the past year (i.e. assuming the money was spent, what was it spent on?).