February 3, 1995 - SENATE POISED TO PASS RINEHART TUITION BILL
State general fund monies for higher education should increase
if tuition increases, according to legislation that the State
Senate appears poised to pass.
Substitute Senate Bill 5325, sponsored by Senate Ways and Means
Chair Nita Rinehart, D-Seattle, has been moving as if a rocket
was strapped to it. It passed last week out of the Senate Higher
Education Committee and Thursday was approved by the Senate Ways
and Means Committee. It is the only tuition legislation out of
at least eight under consideration in the Legislature that has
been supported thus far by Washington State University.
The momentum of the bill is expected to slow considerably in the
State House of Representatives, however, where five alternative
pieces of legislation are under consideration and expected to
receive formal hearings next week. Most contain the option for
universities to set their own tuition, which Rinehart opposes.
Among the features of the "Rinehart" tuition bill:
- Tuition increases would be indexed each year to the growth
in statewide per capita income. Indications are that tuition would
increase four to five percent per year next biennium under this
bill.
- In an unusual move, the bill codifies in law a state policy
to maintain the proportionality of student and state support.
That is, for each dollar that tuition increases, the state should
add an additional dollar of state appropriation.
- An annual study that determines the "cost" of specific
higher education programs is continued but no longer is used to
drive the cost of tuition. Because of cuts to higher education
and enrollment increases in recent years, the per student "cost"
calculated by the study has actually decreased, dictating a four
percent tuition decrease in tuition under current law.
- Eliminates the cap on the percentage of waivers to be granted
for needs students. This gives institutions more flexibility to
meet the needs of particular student populations.
- Contains a provision supported by WSU last year - but vetoed
by Gov. Lowry - which allows some funds to be carried over from
one biennium to the next.
- Provides for moderate increases in student financial aid
to higher education institutions.
Washington State University surprised some Olympia observers
by endorsing the Rinehart legislation even though it does not
include the authority for the university to set its own tuition.
But in testimony before the Senate Ways and Means Committee,
and the Senate Higher Education Committee, WSU indicated that
the most important feature of state tuition policy is that it
first consider improving the amount of funding provided by the
Legislature before it considers tuition increases.
Legislators who see a need for dramatic tuition increases
assume that taxpayer funding for higher education will not improve
and will continue to be a declining percentage of the state budget,
WSU argued.
WSU continues to oppose legislation which presumes that
high tuition can be offset by large increases in student financial
aid. This biennium tuition increased by 30 percent, costing WSU
students more than $15.7 million more. But a record increase in
student financial aid drove only an additional $3 million to WSU
students to offset those increases.
The Rinehart bill passed out of the Senate Higher Education
Committee on a bipartisan vote which included supporters like
Sen. Gene Prince, R-Thornton, and Senate Higher Education Chair
Al Bauer, D-Vancouver .
WSU continues to work to try to include an enrollment policy
in the bill and try to strengthen the language which discusses
taxpayer support for higher education. Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane,
led the opposition to the bill in the Senate, complaining that
the bill guaranteed tuition increases but only promised taxpayer
support.
