On the heels of the vote to allow three universities to raise their own tuition, the bill to devote lottery funds to higher education will get a hearing tomorrow. We’ll televise it on TVW and webcast it live. I ran into Sen. Jim Kastama earlier today and he said House leadership has been very supportive of the bill so far.

Kastama said in an earlier interview that a similar approach has been adopted in other states and it’s been a huge success. He told me this morning that getting the bill to pass will be an “uphill battle” but that it would be “absolutely key” to locking in funding for state need grants and other aspects of higher education.

Tags: Higher Education

We’re focusing on education in this week’s Impact show, when we’ll be recapping segments of our special report, The Quest for Quality: The Debate Over Education Reform & Funding.  Joining us on-set: state Representative Kelli Linville, Chair of the House Budget committee and state Senator Curtis King, ranking minority member of the Senate’s Early Learning and K-12 Education committee.  Given the current revenue forecast, lawmakers may need to cut an additional $1 billion from the supplemental budget when they return in January. Representative Linville says she is beginning talks with members of the budget committee regarding their options for crafting a supplemental budget. She says a targeted tax to fund specific education proposals in the Basic Education Finance Law could go to voters.

Also on the program:  Washington State Parent Teacher Association Executive Director Bill Williams and League of Education Voters Legislative Director George Scarola.  Both say they hope to see the legislature begin the process of funding the Basic Education Finance Law next session.

In another segment, we’ll outline proposals released this week by the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board to stablize funding for Washington’s public colleges.  It includes a new tuition policy proposal for state universities.

Don’t miss The Impact, tonight at 7pm on TVW and anytime online: tvw.org.

Tags: education, Higher Education, Schools, The Impact, The Quest for Quality, tuition policy

The Higher Education Coordinating Board met last week to discuss issues regarding higher education in 2009. It’s airing on TVW now, and you can also watch the whole thing here:

Tags: Higher Education

As you might expect, the Washington Student Lobby is not in favor of the plan Governor Chris Gregoire laid out yesterday, which involves an up to 14 percent tuition hike at 4-year universities and an up to 7 percent increase at community colleges.

They say in a release that it would amount to “using the debt capacity of middle-income families and students to balance the budget.”
See the full release here.

Tags: Higher Education, tuition increase

Gov. Chris Gregoire favors lifting the levy lid and raising tuition — by up to 14 percent for four-year universities and 7 percent for community and technical colleges. She sent out details in a release.

Here’s what she had to say:

“I will not walk away from our longstanding commitment to K-12 or higher education. Education is the lifeblood of this state’s economy and the path to a better future for our children.”

She says lifting the levy lid would “free up” $68 million a year for school districts. “This is money voters have already approved, but can’t be collected because it exceeds the levy limit.”

She advocates for a temporary lift, and said 75 districts would benefit. Here’s a list.

On the tuition increase, which UW and the Council of (four-year university) Presidents have advocated for, she said the state can’t “inflict damage on our universities and colleges.” She said now’s not the time for the state to cut university enrollments.

According to the release: “Gregoire acknowledged that students and families will have to sacrifice, but added President Obama and Congress have significantly increased financial aid, which will offset the effects of higher tuition.”

According to UW’s numbers, students from families that make under $160,000 a year would not see a net change in their tuition. A 14 percent increase at that university amounts to about $875 per year, but the Hope tax credit has been increased to $2,500 — so it cancels out the increase, they say.

One catch: The Hope credit is nonrefundable — meaning you can reduce up to $2,500 directly from your tax bill, but if you don’t owe at least that much, you won’t get a check in the mail.

Tags: Budget, Higher Education, School

Rich Roesler at the Spokesman-Review reports that Gov. Chris Gregoire may be in favor of allowing four-year state universities to bump tuition by 14 percent.

The idea has been floated by the universities. They say most students wouldn’t have to pay more, since federal aid for students is increasing. And, they say, it’s cheaper than staying in school an extra quarter.

Here’s Roesler’s blog post. Check back for more today.

Tags: Budget, Higher Education, tuition

Terry Teale, who testified on behalf of higher education, asked the Senate Ways & Means Committee to let them raise tuition an extra 7 percent — for a total of 14 percent increase per year. Teale is the executive director of the Council of Presidents at four-year institutions. (Thanks, Chris, for the spelling and title!)

She said that would cost less than a single extra quarter or semester. The reductions in higher education will likely cause graduation delays, so she said increasing tuition by an extra 7 percent could be a cheaper alternative.

Randy Hodgins, UW lobbyist, said the cuts being considered would cost about 1,000 UW employees their jobs.

But Sen. Rodney Tom told the higher education advocates that the math didn’t work out for the state — specifically, it requires the state to raise the liability on the GET (tuition guarantee) program by more than $100 million.

Tags: Budget, Higher Education

Bill Lyne with the United Faculty of Washington State, just told the Senate Ways & Means Committee that the proposed budget would “destroy public higher education in this state … this will cut into the bone of higher education.”

He also said that the cuts being considered — which the Senate estimates would reduce college space by about 10,000 students — would be among the worst in the nation to higher education.

Tags: Budget, Higher Education

The Senate is now debating a bill about college tuition. They just defeated an amendment that would have required students who stay at universities for more than 5 years (or 125 percent of credits needed) to pay the full cost of tuition (so, the same out-of-state students pay).

Sen. Joe Zarelli said the bill would allow 770 more students to enroll without adding any cost to the state. He said the amendment is a way to encourage “career students” to graduate and get out the door, which allows more students to be served.  The bill would also allow for students to file for an exception.

“Look kids, you better get on the ball, get your degree,” said Sen. Val Stevens.

But Sen. Derek Kilmer said career students weren’t a  big problem — about 94 percent graduate with under 125 percent of credits required, he said.

The amendment failed. Now onto the main bill.

Tags: Higher Education

Right now on TVW, the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee is getting a capital budget briefing. They’ll also cover the proposed-without-a-location UW North campus.

The official schedule says they’ll hear about “consensus efforts.” Is there a consensus? Tune in to find out. Or keep checking back.

Tags: Higher Education, UW