Nationally, state spending for public higher education has been declining as a proportion of state general fund expenditures. Traditionally state-appropriated budgets for public colleges and universities tend to be cut during times of economic crisis, but often these funds are not always restored once the crisis has passed. As a result "the average percentage of state general fund expenditures devoted to public higher education declined by 37 percent nationally from 1974 to 2001" (Tandberg, 2008, p. 3). This chapter discusses the recent downturn in the U.S. economy and how this decline affects college and university budgets, student financial aid, and the need for an institution to have an institutional research office that can provide timely and meaningful data to address these recent events.