I go to a research university so there are 4 main sources of funding in no particular order: 1) State funding (public tax dollars) 2) Student tuition 3) Rese

I go to a research university so there are 4 main sources of funding in no particular order: 1) State funding (public tax dollars) 2) Student tuition 3) Research Grants 4) Alumni donations State funding is down, research grants are down, and alumni donations are down. The autonomous costs of a university don't decline, so that loss in revenue needs to be made up elsewhere, thus it comes from student tuition.