The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public policy, but the SHEF report provides information to help inform such decisions. This report includes: (1) An Overview and Highlights of national trends and the current status of state funding for higher education; (2) An explanation of the Measures, Methods, and Analytical Tools used in the report; (3) A description of the Revenue Sources and Uses for Higher Education, including state tax and non-tax revenue, local tax support, tuition revenue, and the proportion of this funding available for general educational support; (4) An analysis of National Trends in Enrollment and Revenue, in particular, changes over time in the public resources available for general operating support; (5) Interstate Comparisons--Making Sense of Many Variables, using tables, graphs, and two-dimensional displays to locate and compare states; and (6) Indicators of Relative State Wealth, Tax Effort, and Allocations for Higher Education, along with ways to take these factors into account in making interstate comparisons. The SHEF report provides the earliest possible review of state and local support, tuition revenue, and enrollment trends for the most recent fiscal year. While the main body of the SHEF report reviews financial and enrollment trends in American higher education without editorial commentary, the data clearly indicate the adverse effects of the most recent two recessions. Following the conclusion of the main study, State Higher Education Finance, FY 2009 includes appropriations data for FY 2010 from "Grapevine" and an essay, "What Next?" which considers the implications of these enrollment and financial trends for the United States. Each technical paper includes footnotes. Appended are: (1) Glossary of Terms; (2) Data Collection Form; and (3) List of State Data Providers. (Contains 12 figures, 15 tables and 6 footnotes.) [For "State Higher Education Finance FY 2008", see ED506259.]