This report presents the recommendations of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education concerning funding for public colleges and universities in the state for 1998-99. Two recommendations are provided by the commission. The first recommendation is a statement of the Commission's estimate of the financial requirements needed to support the institutions and their programs at a regionally competitive level. The second recommendation, suggested by the commission as a reasonable compromise between documented needs and available resources, is predicated on the provision of an 8.4 percent increase over the 1997-98 level of appropriations from the education trust fund. The final funding level of $991,367,963 for fiscal year 1998-99 was constructed by, first, expanding all existing allocations by 8.0 percent, and second, adding special equity allocations for certain institutions that remain significantly below average in funding. Following the executive summary, individual sections present tables which detail the budget recommendations, funding formulas and the budget recommendation process, supporting data from all institutions, and a list of critical capital needs. (DB)