News & Updates

It’s only the end of week two, but the pace on the hill feels more like the end of session. Rich Roesler, who writes the excellent “Eye on Olympia Blog” for the Spokesman Review, posted a picture of his desk.  It sums the situation up pretty well.

Today, UW faculty presented information on climate change to the Senate Environment, Water and Energy Committee and administrative representatives briefed the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on enrollment trends.

Next week will see a full slate of important hearings.  The House Higher Education Committee will take up high demand enrollments (Tuesday), financial aid (Wednesday) and strategic expansion of higher education (Friday).   In the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee the agenda includes financial aid (Tuesday) and tuition policy (Wednesday).  House Ways and Means also plans a Wednesday briefing on higher education funding.

The focus won’t all be on the budget and financial matters next week.  On Tuesday the Senate Economic Development, Trade and Innovation Committee will look at international programs offered by our public universities.  The Senate Early Learning and K-12 education committee plans a Thursday hearing on early learning, including a briefing by the UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Science (I-Labs).

We also continue to work on the spending freeze bill proposed yesterday, encouraging lawmakers to add needed flexibility.

Now to continue the search for the surface of my desk.

Senate Democrats today unveiled a bill that would freeze state hiring, contracts, equipment purchases, and travel (with very limited exceptions).  The aim is to save $105 million between now and the end of June.  Here’s a news report on what the bill (SB 5460) would do.

We testified in the Senate Ways and Means Committee today about several serious consequences the bill, as presently drafted, would have for the UW.  Specifically, the hiring and purchasing freeze extends beyond those positions funded with state dollars.  Our concerns include:

1.    Hospitals.  Over 4,000 employees are funded by patient revenues not the general fund.  Many vacancies must be filled to insure patient safety.

2.    Federal and private research grants.  Over 7,000 employees are funded through these grants.  A freeze on positions and equipment could jeopardize completion of competitively awarded grants.  Also, the inability to create new federally funded positions will make receipt of future federal stimulus funding impossible.   AIDS research in Africa or climate research in the Arctic Ocean would not be possible.

All indications are the bill is on a fast track, but we are hopeful that lawmakers will hear these concerns and allow the flexibility needed to meet our health care, research, and educational missions.  More as it develops. . .

Tacoma’s News Tribune has an excellent lead editorial today on the effect of higher education funding cuts — both on individuals and on the state economy as a whole.  Here’s an excerpt —

Opportunity is intangible, so it’s hard to see it vanishing. But sometimes the loss comes into clear focus.

It’s been painfully visible at the University of Washington this month as the school has been forced to deny acceptance to 325 students who would – with enough state funding – have otherwise been admitted for spring quarter. . .

With a state revenue shortfall now verging on $6 billion, any call for protecting a state program sounds like special pleading. The shortfall is so staggering that lawmakers will have to make some cuts in higher education and every other corner of the budget.

But any major reduction in college funding will come at a high price.Washington’s future hinges on a healthy higher education system. Its economy depends on skilled workers and creative, well-educated innovators. Its high school graduates deserve a fighting chance to become those skilled workers and innovators.

You can read the entire editorial here.

Recent news coverage of the UW’s hiring of a new football coach, coupled with of the state’s ongoing budget problems, has led to questions about how funding for athletics does (or doesn’t) affect the broader university budget.  People are free to differ about the role and cost of major college athletics.  It’s important that the debate be grounded in the facts.

•    The University of Washington Athletic Department is one of only a handful of Division I college athletic programs that is fully self-supporting.  With the exception of a small amount of state-mandated Title IX scholarship funding, the UW athletic department generates all the revenue that supports its $60 million per year operation.

•    Athletic department funding is derived from ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and private donations.

•    The football program is the primary revenue generating sport at the University of Washington, supplying almost 85% of the department’s total revenue.  Other than football and men’s basketball, all other sports at the University of Washington operate at a loss.  Therefore, without a profitable (and successful) football program, the University of Washington would not be able to support the 21 other sports that involve more than 700 student-athletes.

In recruiting a new head football coach, the UW had to pay a competitive salary in a very competitive conference.  That said, Coach Sarkisian will be only the fourth highest paid coach in the Pac 10 conference.

Bottom line:  Having top coaching talent at the UW doesn’t cost a dime of state money.  But it is essential to keeping football revenues healthy — revenues that allow the UW to offer opportunity to a wide range of student athletes.

It is clear that a major concern of students and parents (as well as policymakers) is the growing level of debt being incurred to complete a four-year degree.

Here’s some good news from the UW.  Based on the most recent numbers:

52% of our undergraduates leave school with ZERO debt.  That’s right, ZERO debt.  Nationally, two-thirds of undergraduates leave school with college debt.

For the 48% with debt, UW average undergraduate debt loads are about $16,481, compared to the national average of $19,400.  That a difference of $3000 or 15% LOWER than the national average.

So while college requires a substantial investment by students, many UW grads are finidng their debt burden a little lighter than that of their peers.

Welcome back to Rep. Don Cox of Colfax (9th District) who was selected to replace the late Rep. Steve Hailey.  Rep. Cox is a familiar face in Olympia, having served in the House from 1999 to 2007.  His committee assignments are pending, but he may be appointed to the House Education Appropriations Committee among others.

Governor Gregoire’s proposed state stimulus package, which focuses on accelerating a number of “shovel-ready” construction projects, includes two UW facilities. (The descriptions below and cost estimates are taken from the Governor’s release).

In Seattle, the Governor includes the Molecular Engineering Building. This new facility will provide a modern learning and research environment to support interdisciplinary teaching and research in molecular engineering and related disciplines. This new building will enable students, faculty and researchers to utilize state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories. The new building will include approximately 100,000 square feet of vibration-free program space. About half of the building is envisioned to be fitted with wet laboratory space with the remaining space dedicated to dry laboratories, office and support space. This building will help maintain and attract instructors and students to keep the UW and the State of Washington at the forefront in the field of engineering and related research. $69,554,000

In Tacoma, the Governor includes “Phase III”, which will renovate the Joy Building and add a fourth floor to provide additional classroom and faculty office space to support expanded and new degree programs and will serve to transition the campus toward the new four- year curriculum. The project scope will include renovation of all major building components as well as an expanded footprint and the addition of a fourth story to provide a total of approximately 70,000 square feet of program space. The project will provide new capacity to accommodate at least 600 additional student FTEs. $34,000,000

You can find a link to the statewide list of projects here.

The goal of the plan is to focus on projects which can begin construction soon, boosting the construction sector.  Being included in the package is an important step toward seeing these projects move forward quickly.

Whew!  Every legislative session takes on a personality, and judging by the first week this one is going to be serious and fast-paced.  Mixed in with the ceremony of the opening day, the Governor’s inaugural address and the inaugural ball there were plenty of committee hearings, many focused on how the state will close a growing budget gap.

We participated in a number of hearings.  At the House Education Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, we were able to talk about the value of higher education to the citizens of the state, and to begin to spell out some of the possible implications of proposed budget cuts.

The UW continues to rank as one of the best values in public education.  We receive more federal research dollars than any other public university in the nation.  We provide a high percentage of the graduates in high-demand fields, and our students are nationally recognized.  We are also consistently rated a great value in higher education and demand for enrollment continues to increase.  You can see the list of UW achievements and contributions that we provided to the committee here.

The size of the budget cuts we face has not been seen since the early 1980s.  They will require serious changes in the way the University operates.  We are still developing our approach, and the exact changes needed will depend upon the final budget, but here are some of the possibilities we shared with the committee:

• Freezing enrollment at the Seattle campus in spring quarter.  This could affect 300 to 400 students.
• Larger class sizes
• Scaled back course offerings
• Reduced financial aid

We are asking lawmakers to provide us as much flexibility as possible to deal with the budget shortfall.  The recent reports of a drop in our endowment income makes it even more important that we are able to find cost savings wherever we can, while keeping our focus on the quality of the education we provide.

Another side of the story is the capital budget – the UW has a number of ready-to-go projects that could help provide a boost to construction spending and jobs.  We will be discussing with lawmakers ways that those projects might be accelerated to provide a more immediate impact.

Next week, there are a number of hearings we will be following.  In the Senate, the Ways and Means Committee will be taking public testimony on the Governor’s proposed budget at 3:30 on Monday and Wednesday.  Friday at 1:30 the Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee will devote its session to enrollment trends and the current fiscal crisis.  On Wednesday at 8 am, the Economic Development, Trade & Innovation committee will look at progress at commercializing university research.

On the House side the House Higher Education Committee will be briefed on performance agreements (Tuesday at 10), strategic expansion of higher education (Wed. at 1:30), and high demand enrollments (Friday at 8 am).

The only prediction we can boldly make for next week — it won’t slow down.

On Wednesday, the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee was briefed by Tim Yowell of the Senate Ways and Means Committee on the Higher Education budget.  His excellent presentation covers some of the differences among institutions in how state funds are used, trends in costs and tuition, and policy issues facing lawmakers this session.  It is well worth your time — you can download the entire report (in .pdf format) here —  Higher Ed presentation.

Recently, Western Washington University announced it will eliminate its football program to save money and preserve a number of other sports.  Some commenters have suggested other public universities might consider such a move, but today’s Seattle PI has a good story on why one size does not fit all.

At the UW, where athletics are fully supported by athletic department revenues, football is the major economic driver that helps fund many other sports.  Other state schools use a percentage of their state funding to support athletics, so their situation may differ.

Western’s decision to eliminate football caught many by surprise.  The current budget crisis will no doubt lead to more decisions one could not have envisioned even a few weeks ago — all the more reason we will be encouraging policymakers to provide flexibility for institutions to develop solutions that reflect their unique situations.