A conversation with Seattle
But with Washington State facing a $1.3-billion budget deficit, the mood has changed substantially at the Capitol: “Conversations have gotten increasingly pessimistic,” Margaret Shepherd, director of state relations for the University of Washington, told the Seattle Times. “Legislators are telling us no new cuts would be a victory.” Continue reading Student Loan Debt Will Bury Us All, Spring 2013 Edition
Many parents, looking at tuition costs that resemble home mortgages, might want to punch these experts in the mouth. Is it really so hard to imagine that students from Washington’s less wealthy counties might hesitate at the prospect of, three months out of high school, signing on to a four-year hitch that will leave them $40,000 in debt? Continue reading Why Johnny Can’t Afford a Washington State College Degree
I’ve written before about what I think could be called, fairly, the runaway costs of higher education. But what, I wondered, does an economics professor think of this trend?
On the one hand, viewed with an economist’s famously dispassionate eye, perhaps we’re simply seeing the true value of higher education set. On the other, as a professor of economics, there would be some skin in the game. Is this what’s best for students? For society? Continue reading Ask an Economist: What’s the Deal with College Tuition?
However, while endeavors like The Center for Performance Studies point to the entrepreneurship and resilience of our administration and faculty, the hard truth remains that the concept of an affordable, accessible and high quality university education here in Washington is in a precarious state. Quality in higher education has always centered on a single idea: a valued professoriat in regular contact with students. Continue reading Op-Ed: At the University of Washington, the Other Shoe Drops
House Bill 1795 passed by wide margins in the House and Senate, and Governor Gregoire has said she’ll sign it. For the next four years, from 2011-12 to 2015-16, the schools will be able to set tuition as they see fit. The bill does require the schools to provide financial aid to lower-income students, paid for out of the tuition increases, and sets a minimum of 4,000 students for the University of Washington’s in-state freshman enrollment, beginning 2012-13. It also allows the schools to price degrees differently, to account for the disparity between the cost of a liberal arts major and any field that will allow you pay back student loans. Continue reading Will Control of Tuition Save Washington’s Public Universities?