Patterns of expenditures in higher education are examined, based on 1977 financial data from the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) and on data from "Higher Education Financing in the Fifty States, Interstate Comparisons, Fiscal Year 1976, Review Edition." Based on 1977 fiscal year data from HEGIS, distributions of institutional expenditures are indicated by type and control of institutions. Ratios were obtained by dividing the amount expended for a specific category, such as instruction, by that expended for total educational and general categories combined. Institutions are ranked from low to high, based on the ratio of expenditures for instruction to total educational and general expenditures. Additional information includes expenditures for instruction as a percentage of total educational and general expenditures, by state, for public institutions as a whole and for four institutional subgroups (public and private 2- and 4-year institutions); and ranking of the states by percentages of overall expenditures for instruction relative to overall total educational and general expenditures. States ranking highest direct the highest percentages of their expenditures to instruction. Possible reasons for variations among the states along with reasons for differences in percentages of expenditures allocated to instruction, are noted. This approach of ranking states allows identification of the status of all institutions of a given type within a state relative to their counterparts in each of the other states, and may facilitate the identification of clusters of states with similar funding or other factors. Information on the classifications of institutions and expenditures and statistical tables are appended. (SW)