The graph below shows Florida's State University System (SUS) funding per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) over the period July 1981 - June 2014, adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Miami Metropolitan Area. Over this period, per student Florida state funding for higher education (general revenue + lottery + trust funds = blue line) hit a 30 year low in 2013, while student costs (tuition + fees = red line) more than tripled from their 1983 low under Governor Bob Graham. Comparing state funding levels when each governor entered and left office suggests the true priority each placed on higher education for Floridians.

Excel spreadsheet with these numbers.

Expenditure figures are from the BOG:
http://www.flbog.edu/about/budget/docs/

Consumer Price Index data for Miami are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm (in lower right corner, select MSA - Miami).

prepared by Philip Stoddard, 13 Sep. 2015.