A hotly debated bill sponsored by state Sen. Derek Kilmer, who represents Olympic College’s district, that would have raised university tuition by twice as much stalled in the House Committee on Higher Education late last month.
Kilmer’s Senate Bill 6562 would have taken away tuition-setting authority from the state legislature and allowed the boards of regents or trustees at Western Washington University, Washington State University and the University of Washington to control tuition increases for four-year schools across the state.
SB 6562 passed a Washington state Senate vote Feb. 15 and moved to the House of Representatives for more deliberations, where it was unable to get out of committee, in part due to student activism and lobbying.
“That’s certainly frustrating for those of us who believe that higher education is enormously important,” Kilmer said. “However, that is the reality we are in.”
According to Kilmer, tuition increased 14 percent for the 2009-2010 school year and is expected to increase by 14 percent next school year as well, meaning a nearly 30 percent tuition increase in the current biennium.
SB 6562 would not have had any direct impact for community and technical colleges, other than students planning to transfer to four-year schools.
For each one percent increase in tuition for undergraduates, total revenue for universities increases $5.5 million.
The wording of SB 6562 assumed a tuition increase of 14 percent for the first year the universities would have had control, meaning undergraduates would have had to pay $77 more in tuition for the first year alone.
The bill would have increased the amount of tuition set aside for student financial aid by one percent, or $7.3 million, but that would not have covered the increase in tuition, leaving some students unable to pay for their education.
To that end, the bill has a clause that would have required the State Need Grant to fund “the same percentage of tuition fees for students with incomes less than 70 percent of the state’s median family income.”
According to a CHE analysis of SB 6562, tuition would be allowed to increase 14 percent in any one year, but could only have a ten percent increase averaged over ten years, ultimately resulting in a cap on tuition.
The Washington state legislature supposedly already did that in 2007 when it passed a bill that capped undergraduate tuition at seven percent until 2017, but in light of state budge deficits it has made yearly changes to that law to increase revenue.
Though the measure is dead this legislative session, Kilmer said he will sustain his interest in higher education.
“I’ll continue to fight to ensure that students can get a quality and affordable education,” Kilmer said.
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