Four-year private nonprofit institutions spent nearly four times as much per full-time-equivalent student in the 2016 fiscal year as four-year for-profit institutions did, and nearly five times as much on instruction alone. For-profit institutions kept their per-student spending on salaries and benefits for instructors and other employees relatively low. Two-year public institutions also kept their costs per student relatively low.
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| 4-year public | $10,992 |
| 4-year private nonprofit | $16,373 |
| 4-year for-profit | $3,393 |
| 2-year public | $5,649 |
| 2-year private nonprofit | $5,851 |
| 2-year for-profit | $3,717 |
| 4-year public | $3,118 |
| 4-year private nonprofit | $4,343 |
| 4-year for-profit | $1,450 |
| 2-year public | $1,166 |
| 2-year private nonprofit | $2,069 |
| 2-year for-profit | $1,107 |
| 4-year public | $1,827 |
| 4-year private nonprofit | $4,321 |
| 4-year for-profit | $2,570 |
| 2-year public | $1,458 |
| 2-year private nonprofit | $2,816 |
| 2-year for-profit | $2,022 |
| 4-year public | $16,245 |
| 4-year private nonprofit | $22,289 |
| 4-year for-profit | $5,000 |
| 2-year public | $5,789 |
| 2-year private nonprofit | $7,010 |
| 2-year for-profit | $4,725 |
| 4-year public | $5,655 |
| 4-year private nonprofit | $6,286 |
| 4-year for-profit | $732 |
| 2-year public | $2,052 |
| 2-year private nonprofit | $1,315 |
| 2-year for-profit | $614 |
| 4-year public | $36,973 |
| 4-year private nonprofit | $51,312 |
| 4-year for-profit | $13,153 |
| 2-year public | $13,215 |
| 2-year private nonprofit | $16,242 |
| 2-year for-profit | $12,076 |
Note: Overall costs for instruction, academic support, and student services include salaries and benefits for employees in those areas. “Academic support” covers expenses for support services for the college’s primary mission and includes spending on libraries, museums, galleries, audiovisual services, academic development, academic computing support, course and curriculum development, and academic administration. Expenses for “student services” include admissions, career guidance, counseling, financial-aid administration, student records, athletics, and student-health services. “Benefits” include retirement plans, social-security taxes, medical/dental and disability plans, and tuition reimbursement, among other benefits. Employee contributions are excluded. Spending figures were for the 2016 fiscal year. Sector totals were divided by the number of full-time-equivalent students reported by institutions for 2015-16, the most recent year for which data were available. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data</small></p>