Health professions education is a costly and complex aspect of higher education, and its components and functions are different from those of the rest of higher education. This report offers information on the various functions, costs, and funding sources of academic health centers. Because it is difficult for state health policy leaders to determine precise funding requirements, academic health center funding is often by lump sum appropriation with any decrements or increments fairly unrelated to the real work loads and costs. Therefore, policy leaders must understand the functions, costs, and funding involved in academic health centers. These centers are responsible for teaching, research, and service, and costs vary according to their emphasis. Cost and funding are affected by variations in the health professions schools. These variations include sponsorship, size, location, mission, and relationship with parent universities, clinical training sites, and clinical faculty. Points for policy leaders to consider in comparing costs and funding patterns between health professions schools include specific missions, patterns, and procedures of each school. This document includes a one-page account for the academic health centers/medical schools in each of the 15 Southern Regional Education Board states with information on history, location, objectives, sponsorship, and enrollment. (SM)