This week is likely to bring the release of the first complete budget proposal by Senate Democrats. Details are not yet known, but speculation is that cuts may be substantially deeper than the 13% proposed in the Governor’s budget proposal.
As we noted in a post back on January 12, the first day of session —
four year colleges received a substantially greater budget cut than community colleges, with the research universities the most affected of all. The cuts proposed in the Governor’s budget will mean real and substantial cuts in the core services of the University. Those services — things like enrollment levels, course offerings, and class sizes — are directly linked to the amount of budget support the UW receives through our state appropriation and tuition.
Also, the Puget Sound Business Journal has picked up the story that UW endowment income has been declining — causing a reduction in disbursements to campus recipients and putting more pressure on overall UW funding.
These are difficult times and we continue to make the case that adequate funding for higher education, through a combination of state appropriations and tuition, is an investment the state needs to make, both for students and for the health of the economy. We will post budget developments here as they become available this week.