Information about 14 southern states and the progress of their colleges and universities is presented and compared with national standards. The 1981 and 1982 profiles for Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states pertain to population and economies, enrollment and institutions, degrees, institutional finances, student finances, and faculty. The information is presented in summary tables, more than 60 detailed statistical tables, and brief narrative descriptions. Selected new areas of consideration include: items from the 1980 U.S. Census, data on total enrollment in higher education for 1950-1980, new doctoral programs in public universities in the South, Hispanic enrollment, vocational education for young adults in higher education, total current funds revenues and expenditures, and degrees awarded in selected fields at all levels. Among the highlights are the following: about 31 percent of the U.S. population live in the southern region; per capita personal income in the SREB states was $9,511 in 1981; public colleges and universities in the South received slightly greater shares of state support, and less from tuition, than public institutions nationally; tuition accounted for 11 percent of the current funds revenues of public institutions in the SREB states in 1979-1980, a slight decline from 1977-1978; fall 1980 enrollment in higher education in the southern region totaled almost 3.2 million students, an increase of 3.7 percent over the previous year and 10.9 percent over 5 years ago; in 1980, approximately 84 percent of the college students in the South attended public institutions, compared to 78 percent nationally; and of the students in SREB states, about 35 percent attended 2-year colleges, and approximately 11 percent were in graduate programs. (SW)