Over 40 members of the Boards of Regents of the state’s four-year schools (plus the Higher Education Coordinating Board) have written a joint letter to lawmakers asking them to raise tuition in order to mitigate the effect of proposed cuts. In part the letter reads:
. . . as appointed stewards of Washington State’s public four-year higher educational institutions, we are deeply concerned that the magnitude of the reductions to higher education in the Senate and House operating budget proposals would result in significantly reduced access and quality at our state’s public colleges and universities. We ask that you give the institutions the tools and the opportunity to manage through this period of economic
adversity so as to keep the door to higher education open to students from all backgrounds. The key to this is tuition. (emphasis in original)We firmly believe that if you will grant the institutions the option to increase resident undergraduate tuition up to the amount that has been suggested by the Governor and some legislators, not only would access to higher education be maintained to a significant degree, but it would be achieved without impacting the economic diversity of our students. Our institutions remain steadfast in their commitment to expand educational opportunity for low- and middle-income students. Unequivocally, an increase in tuition would be accompanied by an increase in financial aid. This authority would also help ensure that students already enrolled in the institutions do not suffer a significant decline in the quality of their educational experience.
You can read the entire letter here.