Indicator: Expenditures per student

Definition

The amount of education and related expenditures per student.

Recommended Metric(s)

Pre-K: State expenditures per child enrolled

View CEDS Connection

State expenditures per child enrolled

CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics.

K–12: 

Per pupil expenditures

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Per pupil expenditures

CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics.

Or Equity Factor, a measure that indicates variance in per-pupil funding within a state (see this brief by New America for more information) 

Postsecondary: Total instruction and student service expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) student based on 12-month enrollment

Type(s) of Data Needed

Administrative data

Why it matters

School funding has been shown to contribute to better outcomes for students. Using national data, one study found that reading and vocabulary scores among Head Start children are higher where Head Start spending is higher.1 In K–12, causal studies consistently find that increases in per-pupil spending lead to higher test scores, high school graduation, college enrollment, and earnings, particularly for children from low-income households.2, 3, 4, 5 In the postsecondary context, increases in per-student spending result in increased persistence and degree completion in both two- and four-year colleges.6 Increases in state appropriations for higher education spending also have been shown to result in increased educational attainment and shorter time to degree completion.7 In addition to instructional expenditures per student, increases in student service expenditures can also lead to increases in persistence and graduation rates, particularly for students from low-income households.8, 9

Yet funding is neither equal nor equitable. The highest-poverty districts in the United States receive approximately $1,000 less per student than the lowest-poverty districts10 —even states that have implemented progressive funding policies based on student need have not all been successful in ensuring funding for students from low-income households exceeds funding levels for more advantaged students.11  At the postsecondary level, colleges with more students of color and students from low-income households have lower expenditures per student.12, 13 Attendance at for-profit colleges, which have lower instructional expenditures per student,14, 15 and spend more on advertising16 than nonprofit colleges, is higher among students of color and those from low-income households.

What to know about measurement

Data on expenditures are widely available. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) reports annual state spending in public pre-K programs. For elementary and secondary schools, data are reported annually at the state, district, and school levels through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) Per Pupil Expenditure Transparency website. At the postsecondary level, data on instructional expenditures per student and student service expenditures are available annually through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Disparities in funding can be assessed vertically at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as horizontally between schools within the same district or postsecondary institutions within the same state. 

Source frameworks

This indicator appeared in seven source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our recommendations for measuring elementary and secondary funding draws on work by StriveTogether.

References