March 22, 1995 - HOUSE TUITION BILL EMERGES
5 Percent Annual Base Tuition Increase For All Students, Offset
by the General Fund.
The state House Appropriations Committee voted 16-11 along partisan
lines Tuesday night for a proposal that will raise tuition for
all students at Washington State University by at least 10.2 percent
(5 percent annually) over the next two years. After 1997,
annual tuition base increases would be 4-6 percent annually.
The proposal, now known as Proposed 2nd Substitute House Bill
1909, would set the "base" resident undergraduate
tuition and fee rate at $3,205 per year in fiscal year 1997, compared
to the current rate of $2,908 per year. Similar percentage increases
would be imposed on graduate and non-resident students, and students
at the three regional institutions, Central Washington University,
Eastern Washington University and Western Washington University.
According to House of Representative staff, resident undergraduate
tuition and fees at the regionals would increase from $2,257 per
year to $2,487 per year over the next biennium.
Higher Base Tuition for The Evergreen State College. Base
tuition at The Evergreen State College would increase 28.5 percent
for resident undergraduate students over the next biennium, a
hike from $2,257 currently to $2,907 for resident undergraduates.
Republican members charged that taxpayers were "subsidizing"
too much of the college`s tuition, noting that they regarded many
private institutions with high tuition to be peers of the Olympia
college. Rep. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, charged that the high
tuition was an invasion of academic freedom as lawmakers regarded
The Evergreen State College to be teaching in a manner that conservative
lawmakers did not approve. Evergreen officials said the action
could have a detrimental impact on access at the college which
relies heavily on students that commute from homes in the Thurston-Lewis-Mason
County areas. An amendment to set Evergreen`s tuition at the
regional institution`s level was defeated by the committee on
a 12-15 vote with two Republicans joining with Democrats in voting
for the amendment.
Locally-set Surcharges Allowed of Up to 30 percent Per Year
For WSU Nonresident Students
Under the terms of the bill, Washington State University`s Board
of Regents would have the authority to raise resident graduate
tuition up to 20 percent per year for graduate students and up
to 30 percent per year for non-resident students. These tuition
"surcharges" would be in addition to the 5 percent base
tuition increase and the surcharge funds would not be offset by
the general fund and thus retained by the institution. If WSU
were to levy the maximum surcharge, tuition and fees for resident
graduate students could increase from $4,566 to $5,986 in FY 97
at WSU, a 31.1 percent increase. Nonresident undergraduate tuition
and fees could increase from $8,199 to $11,669, a 42 percent increase,
according to House staff.
The Reaction From Four-Year Public Universities.
All base tuition collected by the institutions would be "offset"
in the state general fund by the measure, a practice that Washington
State University opposes because it means revenues raised by the
tuition increase will not necessarily stay with the student`s
educational institution. In the past, tuition "offsets"
have been used to pay for other government services. House Republicans
say the offset was necessary to assure additional House budget
enrollments for higher education institutions, including more
than 850 for the Washington State University system. A statement
delivered to the Committee before the vote by the Council of Presidents,
an organization representing all of the state`s four-year institutions,
said, "Previous drafts of house tuition bills contained no
direct tuition offset. We were surprised to see the mandatory
tuition increase offset in this bill. Students whose tuition
is increased will see no direct benefit from that increase since
their tuition is offset and those dollars essentially will go
into the general fund. We view tuition as a user fee that should
benefit those who pay it. We urge you to reconsider this practice."
The COP position also was critical of the tuition policy toward
Evergreen which it said, "singles out one institution from
others to begin using peer methodology for tuition rate setting
without the benefit of any public policy discussion." WSU
continues to favor the "Rinehart" tuition policy which
has passed the state Senate.
