How much does education cost?
 |  | In the year 2006, public spending on education amounted to CHF 26.8 billion. A total of 6.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) was invested in public education. Cantons and municipalities covered most of this: they contributed CHF 23.25 billion, 87% of the expenditure. The Confederation contributed CHF 3.55 billion (13%) in the same year. |
 | More than half (52.5%) of public education expenditure was in the area of compulsory education (including the pre-school level and schools with special curricula). In the year 2006, this amounted to CHF 13.75 billion. The cantons and their municipalities provided the financing (the Confederation contributed 0.2%). |
| On the upper secondary level, CHF 5.43 billion were spent. The cantons provided most of the financing (the Confederation's contribution to basic vocational education and training amounted to 15.6% and its contribution to schools of general education amounted to 0.5%). |
| Public spending on higher vocational education and training amounted to CHF 139 million in 2006. The cantons covered most of the public expenditure, with around 80%. However, businesses and professional organisations contributed significantly toward the financing of vocational education and training as a whole. Public education spending on universities (universities of applied sciences, cantonal universities and Federal Institutes of Technology) amounted to CHF 6.99 billion. The cantons covered the bulk of spending on the cantonal universities and universities of applied sciences and fully financed the universities of teacher education. The Federal Institutes of Technology were financed by the Confederation. Data: FSO 2008 |
