Public University Enrollment Grows by 300,000 Students

ByEnrique Méndez

This article by Enrique Méndez originally appeared in the June 23, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Over six years, from 2019 to 2025, enrollment in public universities increased from 3.1 million to 3.4 million students, with spending per student going from 55,511 pesos to 52,426 pesos, the Center for Public Finance Studies of the Chamber of Deputies explained in a report reviewing federal resources allocated to that area.

It noted that during that period, the budget approved by Congress increased from 171,404.3 million pesos to 175,200.5 million; that is an average annual growth of 0.3 percent, although the amount actually spent through the fourth quarter of last year grew at an average annual real rate of 0.5 percent.

“When comparing what was approved against what was actually spent, it was observed that in every year additional resources were disbursed, and the years with the largest overspending were 2023, 2021 and 2024, when actual spending exceeded the approved amount by 8.5, 5.5 and 5.2 percent” respectively, it indicated.

In addition, the center confirmed that the budget approved for the Higher Education subfunction as a percentage of the total budget of the Education function “went from 16.9 to 14.9 percent, two points less” between 2018 and 2026.

It specified that the participation percentages for 2020 and 2021 were 17.1 percent and then began to decline between 2022 and 2024. This is explained because during the covid-19 pandemic most of the resources were directed to addressing the crisis caused by the disease.

The research center also reviewed the share of education and higher education in terms of GDP. For the Education function, spending represented an average annual 3.1 percent, while for the higher education subfunction the average was 0.5 percent.

Regarding the evolution of enrollment in the school cycles from 2019-2020 to 2024-2025, it detailed that it grew by 300,000 students over six years and noted that per capita spending “is consistent” with the decline, because over the study period the higher education budget grew only at an average annual real rate of 0.3 percent and resulted, on average, in 53,315 pesos per student.

It clarified that, if the budget for the postgraduate subfunction is included, average per capita spending was 56,620 pesos annually.