UNDATED (WSAU) – Wisconsin's public universities made some of the nation’s deepest budget cuts in the current school year.

The annual Grapevine study shows that only New Hampshire and Arizona made larger spending cuts on a percentage basis.

The State Higher Education Executive Officers’ group conducted the study, along with the Illinois State Center for the Study of Higher Education. It said Wisconsin slashed its public funding for public colleges by almost 21-percent, to just over $1.1 billion dollars.

New Hampshire had the nation’s largest percentage cut at 41. Arizona universities slashed their spending 25-percent.

The Grapevine’s data includes the $250 million cut from the U-W in the state budget which took effect last July. But it does not include $46 million the state hopes to recover from the U-W System to make up for a budget lapse.

The Grapevine report said part of the national reductions was due to the expiration of federal stimulus money. Grapevine said 41 states cut their higher education spending this school year – and a third-of-the states had cuts of over 10-percent.