Tuition likely to jump at public colleges, universities

Published 11:03 pm Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Ashley Morrill of Marysville will tell you these are scary days for college students.

Facing a $9 billion shortfall, the Legislature is planning to slash college and four-year university budgets while boosting tuition to help make ends meet.

For Morrill, tuition may jump 7 percent at Everett Community College, where she is in her first year.

“I have financial aid, but it’s still scary,” said Morrill, 19.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said this week she supports 7 percent increases in each of the next two years for community colleges. She also backs a 14 percent increase for each of the next two years for four-year universities such as Washington State University or the University of Washington.

House and Senate proposals also call for raising tuition for college students. For the typical full-time community college student taking 15 credits, annual tuition and fees would increase to between $2,866 and $2,921 under the proposals.

“With books and all, it’s just getting really tough,” said Snohomish resident Richard Smith, who has been studying biology at EvCC.

Smith has been working part-time to pay for school but worries about tuition, books and living expenses when he transfers to a four-year university.

“It’s a tough time to be a student,” Smith said.

Community college presidents describe a tricky trade-off as they look for ways to raise money to offset budget cuts while keeping tuition affordable.

“Any tuition increase is going to hurt access,” EvCC President David Beyer said. “When it is incremental, to some degree you can kind of prepare for it, but a significant increase like 7 percent will definitely have an impact.”

Increased financial aid such as federal Pell grants and a state need-based aid package will help, Beyer said.

On the flip side is that without a tuition increase, more classes could be cut, forcing students to stay in school longer and costing them even more money in the long run, said Jack Oharah, Edmonds Community College president.

“It’s a balancing act,” Oharah said.

Many EvCC students say they attend community college because it is more affordable than going straight to a four-year university.

With limits dictated by the Legislature, the state board sets tuition for the community colleges, although some local fees vary.

The cost of a community college education is gradually being shifted more from taxpayers to students. In 1981, student tuition made up 23 percent of the cost of their education. In 2006, the last year data was available, it made up 37.3 percent.

For Everett resident Kimberly Doolittle, 39, a pre-nursing student at EvCC, paying for tuition has been a sticker shock, especially when textbooks cost more than $450 for two classes.

She was laid off last May after 18 years in the mortgage industry, and work in the construction industry has been sporadic for her husband.

Doolittle received some financial aid but said it ran out before spring quarter.

“Every dollar I have to pay out for tuition right now takes away from my husband and I eating,” she said.

She hopes to get financial aid next year but worries it might not be enough.

Even so, college will be worth it in the long run because a nursing degree would provide a good income, retirement and medical benefits, she said.

“My best option is to continue to go to school to establish a new career,” she said.

Many younger EvCC students say they are thankful they enrolled in Running Start courses at the college. They are earning dual high school and community college credits with free tuition.

Jon Slater, who works part time as a deckhand for the Hat Island ferry, is poised to graduate from both Lake Stevens High School and EvCC this spring with plans of transferring to Western Washington University. He’s glad to have two years of college already paid for, which should make the next two years more affordable.

Even so, he said, “I need to take a look at a few scholarship opportunities.”

If the plan backed by Gregoire gets passed, students at four-year universities would pay 14 percent more in each of the next years.

It’s the plan sought by the University of Washington, where annual undergraduate tuition is $6,200 a year. A 14 percent increase would amount to around $875 more each of the next two years.

Financial aid and tuition tax credits should help out considerably, said Randy Hodgins, UW interim vice president for external affairs.

“We don’t think anyone making less than $160,000 a year will pay a dime more,” Hodgins said.

Shawn Hoey, a student lobbyist and senior from Washington State University, said students still should be concerned about the tuition increases, which could amount to 30 percent when compounded, and the temporary nature of financial aid.

“They’ll be feeling it two, four, eight years from now,” Hoey said. “And this recession is affecting students as much as anyone else.”

Gregoire’s proposal is not a sure thing. The Senate is pushing a 7 percent increase while the House is at 10 percent. Senators worry that a 14 percent increase will endanger the fiscal viability of the state’s guaranteed prepaid tuition program, known as GET.

In a letter, leaders from the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board are also urging the Legislature to authorize universities to raise tuition higher than the 7 percent statutory lid, but to make these tuition increases temporary like a two-year surcharge.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this story.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.