A boost for state higher-education aid.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Table - Brief article

State spending for public colleges is rising as states' financial outlooks improve. State support for higher education increased in 2005-06 by 5.3 percent from the year before, according to the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. It's the largest increase in state spending on higher education in the last five years and the second year in a row of real spending growth.

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1-year change 1993 -0.9%...