A Slippery Slope

Is the state headed towards privatizing its public colleges?

Washington state’s public universities could gain the power to control how much tuition they can charge students, under several bills being considered by lawmakers in Olympia.

The power to set tuition rates has always resided with the state legislature, but the budget crisis is forcing its hand.

“If we can’t pay all your bills, I guess we have to let you go,” said Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, speaking to college presidents yesterday during a 3.5-hour public hearing hosted by the Senate’s Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee.

The new legislation would affect the University of Washington, Washington State University, Western Washington University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University and the Evergreen State College.

Beginning next year, the governing boards of each university would be allowed to set their own tuition under the legislation proposed by Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor (SB 6562) and its companion bill in the House (HB 2946).

Governor Chris Gregoire supports this particular bill, as does State Treasurer Jim McIntire.

“I’ve long felt that the 4-year institutions should be able to set their own prices,” McIntire said yesterday.

Except for Sen. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, most of the Senate’s higher education committee seemed to support some version of this idea, but many who testified vigorously opposed it.

“A public education should remain in the public’s hands, right here,” said Marcus Sweetser, a student at Bellevue Community College.

“The legislature is accountable to the public while the governing boards are not,” added Peter Sterr, a student at Washington State University in Vancouver.

The proposed bill is “a giant leap forward for the overall privatization” of public education, said Sam Shaddox of the Washington Student Association.

Public universities in several states have the power to set their own tuition, according to Aims McGuinness of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, interviewed earlier today.

But that power is a double-edged sword.

Central Washington University President Jim Gaudino testified yesterday that he doesn’t want the ability to set tuition “if that … promotes the state’s disinvestment in higher education and the transfer of that financial responsibility to the students.”

Eighty percent of students at CWU are dependent on financial aid.

“This is not a student profile prepared to absorb significant annual increases in tuition,” Gaudino said.

While several other states do allow their public universities to control how much tuition they charge, “it remains a very hot issue,” said McGuinness of NCHEMS.

The state of Texas gave away tuition control to its colleges several years ago but is on the verge of taking it back “because of a concern that the institutions moved too quickly to increase tuition,” McGuinness said.

That is also the fear of the many college students who testified at yesterday’s hearing in Olympia. About 18 students testified and hundreds more sent letters.

“If Sen.Kilmer’s bill were to pass into law … the administrations would be able to raise the tuition in double digits for the next 5 years,” said University of Washington student Jono Hanks.

“Current rates of tuition are unaffordable for about 70 percent of the families in Washington,” added Ann Daley, who directs the Higher Education Coordinating Board, which runs the state’s financial aid programs for college students.

The next step for these bills is unclear, a staffer for the Senate’s Higher Education Committee said today.

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