Financial Trends in Public and Private Nonprofit Institutions - U.S. GAO

For fiscal years 1999 through 2009, both public and private nonprofit schools increasingly relied on tuition revenues when compared with other sources of revenue. Net tuition and fees—revenues received after subtracting institutional aid provided to students—climbed from 16 to 22 percent of total revenue at public schools, and from 29 to 40 percent at private nonprofit schools. According to four schools GAO interviewed, increased reliance on tuition revenue is partly a result of significant decreases in state and local appropriations and other revenue sources, such as endowment income. Analysis of Education data shows nearly all types of public and private nonprofit schools saw decreases in state and local appropriations ranging from 6 to 65 percent, as well as decreases in other revenues, ranging from 13 to 75 percent. In response to these declines, schools that GAO visited pursued additional revenue from out-of-state and, in some cases, international students, government funded research, and fund-raising.