Lawmakers are in talks to let Washington universities and community colleges raise their annual tuition up to 28 percent over the next biennium to help offset between $513 million to 683 million in proposed budget cuts from the House and Senate.
Following requests by the state's Higher Education Coalition Board, Gov. Christine Gregoire endorsed a proposal this month that would allow institutions to raise tuition higher than the 7 percent statutory lid, up to 14 percent by four-year schools, and 7 percent for community colleges.
Increased tuition, Gregoire said, is the best choice for now, given the state's struggling fiscal climate. Without tuition increases, the quality of higher education would be negatively impacted by the proposed cuts, and would take years to recover.
Despite recent increases in federal student aid, statistics indicate students nationwide are shouldering bigger shares of college tuition costs, according to College Board's 2008-2009 price trends. Talks of even bigger tuition hikes are happening in many states, not just Washington, where higher education is priced at “a bargain,” Gregoire said, compared to other states, because more is subsidized by taxpayer money.
But the state's budget crisis is making it tougher for four-year institutions like Eastern Washington University, where many individuals are first-generation college students, to keep annual tuition hikes lower than the 7 percent lid. Right now, EWU officials say they're looking at up to 22 percent in reduced funding, should the House's $683 million proposal pass.
The Cheney Free Press editorial board sees higher education not as an affordability issue for the state, but a top priority of constitutional values.
Asking students to pay as much as $500 more a year for college is not necessarily cheaper than having to attend school longer because programs got scaled back, or eliminated by cuts. Contrary to Gregoire's saying that's something they should be able to manage.
Nationwide, people are already struggling to afford, stay in, and graduate from college on time. Raising tuition at this time, we feel, would be the more devastating choice. One, it puts the burden on populations who don't have the extra money. Two, it could force more potential college students into a now-overcrowded workforce where the competition is increasingly demanding for qualified workers.
Officials from the Washington Student Lobby said low tuition is the best financial aid the state can offer, and we agree. Basic education is mentioned in the state's constitution as a paramount duty of the state. Help for a higher education isn't guaranteed, but it should be. What lawmakers are proposing now will make getting an education more difficult for cash-strapped families and students wanting to better their quality of life.
An educated citizenship, we feel, is a much better investment to the long-term recovery and continued vitality of our economy. Perhaps the state should use some of the federal assistance money it's getting to make higher education more affordable to citizens, rather than spend it on subsidies for bankrupt business ventures or organizations that are better off left to fail.
EWU President Rodolfo Arévalo said at an April 1 anti-cut rally, which drew 300 people, that despite the proposed funding cuts, university officials will continue focusing on making sure students have resources they need to graduate.
We applaud the university's efforts to retain its student population despite current circumstances, and strongly request that lawmakers make higher education their priority too by keeping it affordable while reducing spending in others areas that won't be hurt as badly by the House and Senate's proposed cuts.
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