The Seattle PI has a strong editorial today on the value of higher education and how more opportunities for students is clearly linked to the future economic health of the state. Here’s an excerpt:
The state’s persistent underfunding of higher education is a bum deal for Washington residents, especially those in the early decades of their working lives or with younger family members. In good times and bad, it’s a setup for making sure that an extraordinary number of the best opportunities go to people educated elsewhere.
Here’s the basic incongruity that persisted through the late 20th century and threatens to mark — and mar — the 21st: Our companies recruit so many bright people from out of state that Seattle regularly ranks high in educational attainment levels, but our colleges actually produce relatively few people with degrees.
You can read the entire editorial here.