Commonfund's Higher Education Price Index® (HEPI) data show that costs for colleges and universities rose 3.4 percent in FY2024, a decreased rate of inflation compared with 4.0 in FY2023 and 5.2 percent in FY2022. (FY2024 covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, and coincides with the budget year of most educational institutions.) This year continues a tempering of price increases, falling 35 percent from 5.2 percent in FY2022, which had been the highest since FY2001. However, there is an ongoing trend of inflation rates remaining elevated compared with the previous decade. Commonfund understands the importance of having accurate and relevant data to support good governance and help address the challenges and uncertainties institutions encounter. After a period of heightened inflation across the biggest budget items for institutions such as faculty and administrative salaries and benefits, it is even more important for inflation measures to match the job at hand. However, measures of the price increases borne by consumers are vastly different from those impacting the operating budgets of educational institutions. Due to this fact, Commonfund's annual Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) may be the most accurate predictor of changes in costs for educational institutions since it isolates costs most relevant to the operation of these types of organizations. As this year's HEPI report shows, costs for a market basket of items comprising operating budgets increased at an annual rate of 3.4 percent in FY2024 compared with 4.0 percent in FY2023. As the report explores in depth, inflation is easing, but for educational institutions, it is still well above the prior decade's norm.