Why has state support for higher education dropped off in recent years? In a study for Education Next, Douglas Webber finds that Medicaid, which has increased more than $1,000 per capita since 1987, has been the single biggest contributor to the decline in higher-education support at the state and local level. Webber adds, however, that it is unlikely Medicaid expansions provided for under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are responsible for much, if any, of the decline in state higher-education funding. To learn more about how public-welfare spending has affected state financial support of higher education over the past 30 years, read Webber’s “Higher Ed, Lower Spending” online.

—Education Next