At four-year public colleges in the United States whose library materials were at least 85 percent digital, per-student spending in 2014-15 ranged from $60 or $61 at three universities with a substantial share of students enrolled in distance education only, to $768 at one university where most teaching occurs in traditional classrooms. That library, at the University of Wisconsin at Superior, made a substantial one-time purchase of materials that year, in the wake of a flood that destroyed its physical collection in 2012. Median library spending per student at all four-year public institutions was $321.
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| 1. | Granite State College | 2,209 | 180,029 | 100.0% | $133,150 | $55,284 | $77,866 | $60 |
| 2. | State U. of New York Empire State College | 11,952 | 272,594 | 100.0% | $717,230 | $304,683 | $410,455 | $60 |
| 3. | U. of South Florida-Sarasota/Manatee | 1,903 | 708,613 | 99.8% | $574,576 | $105,193 | $113,546 | $302 |
| 4. | U. of Maryland University College | 47,906 | 109,946 | 98.8% | $2,910,349 | $1,561,680 | $762,217 | $61 |
| 5. | Nevada State College | 3,555 | 992,958 | 98.4% | $745,927 | $308,616 | $349,095 | $210 |
| 6. | Miami U. at Middletown | 2,062 | 757,416 | 96.1% | $495,807 | $262,227 | $87,263 | $240 |
| 7. | Potomac State College of West Virginia U. | 1,540 | 513,058 | 93.8% | $352,555 | $269,198 | $77,768 | $229 |
| 8. | Miami U. at Hamilton | 3,386 | 782,911 | 93.0% | $536,299 | $276,913 | $126,860 | $158 |
| 9. | Sul Ross State U. | 2,873 | 3,491,519 | 91.1% | $1,080,471 | $538,883 | $505,059 | $376 |
| 10. | U. of California at Merced | 6,268 | 1,346,228 | 90.6% | $3,588,759 | $1,691,834 | $1,455,839 | $573 |
| 11. | North Seattle Community College | 6,493 | 364,387 | 89.1% | $674,631 | $438,609 | $60,121 | $104 |
| 12. | Indiana U. East | 4,573 | 276,076 | 88.9% | $694,155 | $334,798 | $162,514 | $152 |
| 13. | Henderson State U. | 3,627 | 2,078,584 | 88.6% | $1,453,360 | $635,459 | $489,481 | $401 |
| 14. | U. of Washington at Bothell | 4,962 | 1,075,685 | 88.0% | $3,449,877 | $2,027,723 | $753,115 | $695 |
| 15. | Florida Gulf Coast U. | 14,473 | 2,169,751 | 87.9% | $4,369,678 | $2,001,205 | $1,776,668 | $302 |
| 16. | U. of Washington at Tacoma | 4,477 | 1,079,752 | 87.7% | $1,834,732 | $1,052,902 | $781,830 | $410 |
| 17. | Western Nevada College | 3,951 | 307,088 | 87.3% | $755,229 | $535,080 | $34,836 | $191 |
| 18. | U. of Minnesota at Crookston | 2,850 | 386,684 | 87.0% | $333,372 | $167,625 | $109,222 | $117 |
| 19. | Lake Washington Institute of Technology | 3,660 | 107,252 | 86.1% | $346,350 | $187,749 | $84,772 | $95 |
| 20. | Texas A&M U.-Central Texas | 2,316 | 590,445 | 86.1% | $1,377,429 | $477,931 | $715,500 | $595 |
| 21. | U. of Wisconsin at Superior | 2,600 | 494,733 | 85.8% | $1,997,674 | $499,149 | $1,197,938 | $768 |
| 22. | Louisiana State U. at Alexandria | 2,702 | 850,747 | 85.4% | $301,732 | $209,894 | $36,127 | $112 |
| 23. | Virginia Military Institute | 1,700 | 2,308,737 | 85.0% | $488,068 | $30,295 | $361,831 | $287 |
| 24. | SUNY Canton-College of Technology | 3,278 | 210,108 | 84.7% | $496,840 | $356,686 | $130,794 | $152 |
| 25. | U. of South Carolina at Beaufort | 1,794 | 605,109 | 84.7% | $644,827 | $327,651 | $185,454 | $359 |
| | Median for 707 institutions | 7,382 | 627,081 | 29% | $2,759,948 | $1,244,389 | $800,494 | $321 |
Note: Examples of digital or electronic materials are databases, e-books, and media in digital format that can be downloaded or streamed. The “Percent digital” column encompasses both digital and electronic materials. Physical media like DVDs are not considered digital. Percentages are rounded, but institutions were ranked before rounding. Tied institutions are listed alphabetically. Institutions with library collections of fewer than 100,000 items were excluded. The sums of salaries and wages and of library services/materials are lower than total library spending because other expenses, like operations and maintenance, are not listed separately. Comparison of library cost per student should be interpreted with caution, because numerous factors influence those costs, among them whether library employees’ fringe benefits are included in the libraries’ total cost, the concentrations of study at the institution, faculty-research activities, and the extent to which library staff members are engaged in instruction. More data are available at nces.ed.gov/ipeds/Home/UseTheData.
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data</small></p>