By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Rhode Island boosted public spending on higher education by more than any other state in the country this year after slashing it by double-digits during the recession, a new study shows.

Rhode Island’s state government spent $193.6 million on higher education in its 2011-12 budget, a 13% jump from the $171.3 million budgeted the prior year, according to the annual Grapevine study released Monday.

However, Rhode Island was one of only five states that has federal stimulus money for higher education in its current budget, and the whopping $30.2 million in stabilization funds Rhode Island received was twice as much as second-place New York’s $14.4 million and 190 times as much as West Virginia’s $158,781.

When federal money is excluded, Rhode Island’s spending on higher education rose by a more modest $6.1 million, or just under 4%, to $163.5 million. That’s down 17% from the $196.4 million in state money Rhode Island spent on URI, RIC and CCRI as the recession began in 2006-07.

Looked at a different way, Rhode Island spent $149.58 per capita in state money on higher education in 2010-11, which ranked 48th in the nation, ahead of only New Hampshire ($107.74) and Colorado ($133.99). That rose to $155.55 per capita this year, ranking the state 42nd nationwide.

Governor Chafee has made increasing support for higher education a major priority in his first term at the State House, calling it “an investment in the future of Rhode Island.”

“Adequate funding is a necessary foundation for the development of a skilled, educated workforce able to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world and qualify for good, high-paying jobs in a knowledge-based economy,” Chafee told WPRI.com in a statement. “As governor, I will continue to fight to ensure that Rhode Island schools do not go without the resources they need to teach our young people and teach them well.”

House Speaker Gordon Fox echoed Chafee in an interview on WPRI 12′s “Newsmakers” taped Friday. “Shame on us,” he said. “I was part of that, and shame on me for doing it … we put a lot more pressure on tuitions because … these are the real kinds of choices that go on.”

Nationwide, public higher-ed funding by states fell 7.6% this year as federal stimulus aid disappeared; it declined 5.3% to $1.15 billion in Massachusetts, one of 41 states that made cuts, according to the annual study by Illinois State University’s Center for the Study of Education Policy and the State Higher Education Executive Officers.

“The question is how do we meet our stated goals for increased educational attainment in an era marked by stagnant or diminishing economic growth,” James Palmer of the Illinois center told Insider Higher Ed. ”It seems like we aren’t going to be able to meet them by increased state funding for higher ed, at least in the near term.”