This paper examines expenditure patterns at higher education institutions in recent years, in light of the spiraling cost of higher education. It utilizes data from the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), begun in 1986, and the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), which goes back to 1966. IPEDS and HEGIS figures demonstrated that instruction predictably accounts for the largest percentage of total spending. While spending increased in almost all categories between 1977 and 1994, increases were smallest in the traditional areas of instruction, library, and plant operations, and largest in ancillary services and administration. Instructional spending as a percentage of total expenditures fell at public universities, public four-year colleges, and private four-year colleges. Research spending as a percentage of total expenditures increased significantly at private and public universities. Comparing different types of institutions, the largest proportionate change from 1990-91 to 1994-95 was a decrease in mean instructional expenditures at Carnegie Classification Research I public universities of 5.9 percent. Three appendixes provide IPEDS variable descriptions, Carnegie Classification codes, and a list of Carnegie-classified doctoral institutions. (Contains 14 references, 17 tables of data, and 1 figure.) (MDM)