LYNNWOOD — The community college system — the ground level of higher education in Washington — needs more money to serve all of the students it’s expected to, the leaders of Snohomish County’s two state colleges said Tuesday.
That money must come either from an initiative that the League of Education Voters is trying to get on the November ballot, or from a restructuring of the state’s tax system, they said.
About 50 community leaders, officials, students and others attended a meeting at Edmonds Community College designed to start a dialogue with the community. EdCC President Jack Oharan and EvCC Vice President Stu Barger talked about their concerns while audience members offered their thoughts on what they’d like to see from both schools.
"This is a voyage that we don’t know the destination," Oharan said after the meeting. "But it’s a voyage worth taking."
Some students said they want better support for minority students and easier transfers to the state’s four-year universities after finishing their community college work. Everett and Edmonds combined serve more than 40,000 people each year.
"This is about people talking about the real issues, and hopefully the legislators here are hearing it," Barger said. "We wanted to hear what’s broken and what’s working."
Eventually, the concerns largely come down to a lack of money, many said.
The community college system is serving more students than the state is paying for, Barger said. The state is supposed to pay community colleges about $4,500 for each full-time equivalent student enrolled in community college. Statewide, there are 13,000 more students in community colleges than the state pays for, Barger said.
"That’s like getting two community colleges for free," Barger said.
Community colleges and four-year universities are handling the funding shortage differently, Barger added. Four-year universities are refusing to take more students than they’re funded for. Community colleges, on the other hand, are continuing to accept students and trying to stretch their dollars. In the end, there are more community college students trying to transfer to universities than the universities are willing to take.
"We can’t continue to have a system that turns out more and more students to go through a tighter and tighter doorway," Barger said.
The over-enrollment only looks to get worse, as the biggest graduating class ever is expected to graduate in 2010, with nearly 65,000 students graduating throughout the state — that’s almost 7,200 more than the Class of 2002.
State Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, said the state’s tax system must be restructured, but did not advocate for a state income tax. He specifically noted the state’s business and occupation tax, calling it "an ugly, ugly tax."
McCoy also said there’s a need for a four-year university in north Snohomish County. He said all the state representatives from the county agree.
The quicker option for pumping money into education is the League of Education Voters’ proposal, Initiative 884, Oharan said. The proposal will ask voters to approve a 1-cent increase in the state’s sales tax that will be used to fund education, from pre-school through graduate programs. It promises to fund a 25,000-student increase in community and technical colleges.
"We have to get more money into the system in a way that’s fair to everyone," Oharan said.
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
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