How’s the old saying go, “You can’t just throw money at a problem and expect it to go away?” As this chart from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce illustrates that kind of free spending hasn’t been much of an option for the nation’s community colleges. While spending per full-time equivalent student soared at private colleges during the 2000s, spending at community colleges remained flat at $10,200. By comparison, spending per student at four-year private research universities grew from $28,000 to $35,600.

For more research on per-student spending and other economic issues important to community colleges, visit the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.