NEW HOUSE PROPOSAL ON UNIVERSITY STUDENT ENROLLMENTS
LIKELY TO BENEFIT WSU
WSU has expressed gratification that the majority
House Republicans submitted a proposal to the budget conference
committee Friday that substantially increased the new student
enrollments at the public four-year institutions from the House-passed
budget. The majority House negotiators suggested that $9.2 million
or the equivalent of 2,019 students be added to the state's
four-year institutions in the 1996 supplemental operating budget.
For all public four-year institutions, the new offer
of 2,019 new students, fully funded, compares with 257 students
funded in the original house budget -- an improvement of more
than $8.3 million, according to numbers provided by the House
staff.
Senate negotiators gave no indication Friday on whether
they would support the new House position, which is still below
the 3,100 new enrollments for the four-year institutions that
was recommended by the Senate-passed budget. The Senate proposal
for enrollments totals $14 million for the state's four-year
institutions. Its difficult to predict exactly how this new proposal
could affect enrollments at WSU, as that must be the subject of
further conference committee deliberations. But using some of
the methodology now used by the House, it would seem to add another
800-900 students to the WSU system while still addressing access
concerns at some locations such as Tacoma and Bothell that were
not substantially addressed by the original House budget. That
800-900 estimate would compare with 109 in the original House
budget and 1,235 new students in the original Senate budget for
WSU. The improved House proposal is expected to be far more
favorable to WSU Learning Centers proposed by cooperative extension
for Yakima, Port Townsend, Longview, Wenatchee, Colville, and
Tacoma. It will also be valuable in continuing the extended degree
program which offers a baccalaureate degree in social science
at dozens of locations across the state. In addition to critical
new enrollments for Pullman, WSU is also hoping it will boost
recommendations by the House for Tri-Cities and Spokane campuses.
House Democrats have argued that the original House
budget was favorable to campuses east of the Cascade mountains
while discriminating against campuses in more urban Western Washington.
Copies of a Higher Education Coordinating Board "match
study" distributed on the floor of the House showed that
the University of Washington had turned away 1,292 students and
Western Washington University had turned away 426 students. While
such numbers demonstrate a need at those institutions, they do
not disprove the need at WSU's Pullman and Tri-Cities campuses.
Pullman is now over-enrolled by more than 650 students. This
over-enrollment was not recognized in the match study.
Fate of the "Washington Higher Education
Network" (WHEN) Still Uncertain.
Washington State University delivered copies of the
"blueprints" for the proposed WHEN system to House
Appropriations Chairman Tom Huff Friday. WHEN would expand the
current WSU telecommunications system to all six four-year institutions
and the community colleges. There remains a large gap between
the House and Senate positions on the system. The Senate proposes
a budget of $34.7 million for the system while the House would
phase the project, beginning with just $5 million in this budget.
At that rate, it would take 7-8 years to construct the system,
which is an expansion of the Washington Higher Education Telecommunications
System (WHETS) operated by WSU.
American Electronics Association Urges Improvement
in House Position on WHEN
An association of hardware and software manufacturers
is lobbying for the House "at a minimum" build the
WHEN "backbone" during this 1996 legislative session.
The WHEN backbone represents about $23 million to $27 million
of the total $40 million estimated project cost. The backbone,
as proposed by WSU engineers, is an 84-channel double loop around
the state (that looks somewhat like a figure eight on its side.)
Funding of the backbone would eliminate critical bottlenecks
in the current WHETS system between Pullman and Tri-Cities, and
build important links in locations such as between Spokane and
Wenatchee. While this minimal proposal represents
a potential compromise on WHEN funding, WSU has concerns that
the backbone alone will not immediately allow for classes at new
locations such as Longview, Everett, Olympia, Puyallup, Prosser,
Tacoma and Bothell. WSU and the other four-year institutions
continue to support the Senate funding level, which is also supported
by the AEA.
This update is shared by broadcast fax and electronic
mail to friends of Washington State University as state government
developments occur. Contact Karen Fischer, WSU State-wide Affairs,
509/335-6665. Larry Ganders is at 360/438-7552; Fax: 360/438-8104.
Internet address is ganders@wsunix.wsu.edu. Visit our web page
at www.wsu.edu/IR/wsulegis/olympia.html.
