Transportation, education and the future of the GET program:

Tags: education, GET, Legislative Review, transportation budget, tuition

The House Higher Education Committee just kicked off a work session on the Guaranteed Education Tuition program — or GET. After this, they’ll hold a hearing on the bill to make reforms to GET.

The Legislature created GET, which allows parents to pre-pay tuition for their children, in 1997. It’s a 529 plan — that means there’s no tax on any gains to the account if it’s used toward qualified education expenses.

Rep. Reuven Carlyle asked if the program is truly unsound. He said he’s heard differing opinions. “On the financial soundness, I think it’s a long-term issue — of looking forward and saying if we don’t do anything different and there’s a changing policy environment” on tuition increases, there might be a problem, said Don Bennett, executive director of the Higher Education Coordinating Board.

“We have 128,000 contracts out there,” said GET director Betty Lochner, referring to the number of accounts opened since 1998. She said calculations of the solvency of the program are based on if all contracts were cashed in right now — in other words, if each of the students for whom the credit was purchased enrolled in school at once. She said currently, the program is funded at about 90 percent.

Enrollment for this year ends March 31 and prices will be adjusted after April 30 — so if you want to open an account at this year’s price of $117 per unit, hurry.

What does one unit buy? One one-hundredth of a year’s tuition. In other words, $11,700 for a full year of school.

Over last 13 years, tuition has risen 85 to 90 percent, according to Lochner. She said those who bought credits back when the program started paid $35 per unit — they’re now worth about $85 per unit in tuition.

As for those buying now: $46,800 up-front would purchase four years of tuition credits.

The proposed changes, according to Matthew Smith with the state actuary, would create a “Get 2.” “It does not change existing contracts, it does not change the price-setting strategy,” he said, but it does lower the level of the guarantee. That bill gets a hearing right after this work session.

Tags: GET, tuition

In a one-on-one interview at the capitol, Speaker Frank Chopp weighs in on his approach to leading House Democrats through a difficult budget-cutting session. A strong advocate for safety net programs like Disability Lifeline (eliminated in the governor’s proposed budget), he’ll play  a critical role in deciding how the state will bridge a $4.6 billion budget gap.   Here’s what we covered in the eight-minute un-cut interview:  his message to freshman and veteran lawmakers alike, sacred budget programs,  bold ideas/specific reforms proposals, and how he’s reaching out to Republicans.

There’s also a heavy focus on education in tonight’s episode.  K-12 Superintendent Randy Dorn joins us in studio to respond to the governor’s proposal to create a new Department of Education, which would oversee agencies dealing with early learning through college.  In our Session Extra segment, we get the higher education perspective on the same proposal.  Rep. Larry Seaquist, chair of the House Higher Ed Committee, and Rep. Larry Haler, ranking Republican on the committee, talk about a breakdown in coordination in the current education structure. They also share their thoughts on giving more power to universities to raise tuition.

Don’t miss our first 2011 legislative session edition of The Impact tonight at 7 & 10 pm on TVW.  You can also watch us on our PBS partners:  KBTC, KSPS, KTNW and KWSU.  For a complete list of times and channels, go here.

Tags: education reform, Frank Chopp, The Impact, tuition

Sen. Derek Kilmer is now testifying to the House Higher Education Committee on his bill to allow WSU, UW and Western to set their own tuition. Kilmer said the bill will help provide a quality education for Washington students, and has limits that will prevent exorbitant tuition increases.

“Right now, there’s not predictability,” he said, for universities when creating budgets: They never know how much they’ll get from the state and they can’t set their own tuition.

The bill has already passed the Senate. Watch live on TVW.

Steve Mullin, president of the Washington Roundtable said his organization is in favor of the bill. “I’ve spent a lot of time on this issue … This notion that we’re switching suddenly from a tuition based funding model for higher ed … that somehow this is a recent phenomenon is absolutely not the case.”

But Bob Braden, who said he’s here testifying on behalf of his grandchildren who are worried about paying for college, said tuition is rising too fast. “I know we are in the midst of a terrible downturn economically,” he said, but “I am against tuition caps that go out six years in advance and I believe that the Legislature should keep their accountability.” He said the bill would be much better if the tuition caps were projected two years out.

Tags: tuition

The Senate Ways & Means Committee is live on TVW now. They’re discussing the bill to allow the UW, WSU and Western to set their own tuition, so long as it didn’t exceed 14 percent in any one year or 9 percent compounded over 15 years.

Tune in now or check back here for updates on the testimony.

Under the proposal, Guaranteed Education Tuition credits would increase in cost, meaning fewer people would buy them, according to the state actuary.

Mark Emmert, president of UW, is now speaking. He said the schools are trying to figure out the best, most efficient and most fair way to charge tuition. “Overall (this is) a bill that we find supportive,” he said, though there are areas they would like to “discuss further.”

“We think it provides the appropriate limits” for setting tuition, said Elson Floyd, president of WSU. He kept his comments brief.

Charlie Earl, director of the board of community and technical colleges, said they support the bill. Why? Universities have to be affordable and accessible in order for students from community and technical colleges to be able to transfer in. “Robust financial aid needs to be continued … and (that is ) necessary to make this tuition proposal work well.”

Sam Shaddox, a student lobbyist:  “Anytime we have a supposed ceiling on tuition increases,” he said, it eventually becomes “the basement.” He said WSU and WSA — the Washington Student Association — are against the bill.

Peter Sterr, a student lobbyist with WSU Vancouver, said the 9 percent tuition cap over 15 years could double tuition within the decade. He said the increase is so far above inflation, it will quickly leave middle-class students in the dust.

That hearing is now over. Sen. Margarita Prentice noted that it took 55 minutes — and it’s one of 27 bills on their public hearing schedule today. Up now: Education reform.

Tags: tuition

Right now, the Senate Higher Ed and Workforce Development Committee is discussing who should have the authority to set university tuition.

Mark Emmert, UW president: “Every year, funding for higher education in constant dollars has gone down, year in and year out. We’re here because the model is broken and we’re trying to fix it.”

He said each of the bills under consideration has pros and cons. “But we have to have a solution. I would love to have one of you ensure me that the funding pattern we’ve had for the last 25 years is going to turn around,” he said. “I’ve never had anyone say that to me and I’ve certainly never had anyone say it convincingly.”

He said he’s there testifying because “we don’t have a whole lot of other options” aside from charging students more.

Elson Floyd, WSU president: “I want to applaud our students for their testimony… it was illuminating to hear them. The reality is, our financial system within our state is broken … and all of us need the courage to try something fundamentally different and fundamentally new to get us through this financial circumstance.”

Floyd said the focus needs to be on the partnership between the state and the public institutions. “Last year, for me as president, it was painful to tell my students and faculty and staff and alums and others that we were going to increase tuition 14 percent. But the reality is that when you built this budget, you did it with the presupposition that we would increase tuition 14 percent,” he said. And if they didn’t? They’d be giving themselves a budget cut.

Floyd said the bill is the right call for the state. But: “Sometimes one size doesn’t fit all,” he said — so maybe some institutions should get to set their own tuition and not others.

Tags: tuition

Tonight on Inside Olympia, host Austin Jenkins interviews Ann Daley, Higher Education Coordinating Board executive director.

Here’s some of what she had to say, courtesy of Mike Bay, TVW’s VP of Programming:

- Community and Technical Colleges, unlike the 4 years, didn’t get their budgeted enrollments cut with this budget; however, the community and technical colleges are seeing enrollment demands rising 10-20% because of the recession.

- One good piece of news: The Legislature fully funded the state need grant, which helps the neediest of students — those from families at 70% or less of the median family income

- Rising tuition and lower investment returns will mean higher prices for GET units – currently at $76 per unit (or about $7,600 per year), Ann didn’t say exactly how much they’ll increase but said “significantly.”

- Ann said higher education “is the state’s rainy day fund:” It gets cut disproportionately during bad times. She said two years ago we were celebrating the best higher ed budget in 20 years, today we’re looking at the worst higher ed budget in 30 years – “something’s wrong with that picture”

- Should colleges look at a new tuition pricing scheme, where people who can pay more do pay more? “That has to be looked at.”

All that and more at 7 and 10 p.m. on Inside Olympia — tonight on TVW or tvw.org.

Update: Watch right now…

Tags: tuition, universities

Tune into TVW to see the House debate the bill to allow undergraduate tuition to be increased by up to 14 percent.

In the past, tuition increases have been limited to 7 percent per year. This year, because of cuts to higher education, university presidents have asked for a higher rate.

They argue that with the increased federal Hope tax credit, the net effect will be zero for most families. But students don’t see things that way — they say the Hope credit was increased to address already escalated tuition, not to zero out future increases.

Check back — I’ll update with some debate.

Tags: tuition

The bill to allow universities to raise undergraduate tuition by more than 7 percent is getting a hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee now.

The Washington Student Lobby is against it — they say students have been hit by the recession, too, and that the 14 percent increase over two years would amount to about 30 percent. The university presidents are for it — they say it could help prevent budget cuts and be less costly than an extra term.

Here’s the bill report. The hearing is live on TVW now.

Tags: tuition

Here it is. She also talks about lifting the levy.

Tags: Budget, Governor, tuition