College enrollments get big budget boost

When the state House and Senate approved the final budget over the weekend, Washington's universities breathed a sigh of relief: There will be room at the inn for the state's bulging student population.

The state will create 7,900 new slots at its community colleges and four-year colleges, and it will expand university branch campuses to start enrolling freshmen in fall 2006.

"I think that's a great step to address some of the 22,000 students that we have coming down the pike in four years," said Karen Morse, president of Western Washington University.

Mostly, colleges were relieved that they didn't end up with massive cuts during a session that saw the Legislature wrestling with a budget deficit over the next two years. In the current biennium, for instance, the state's colleges ended up with less money than in the preceding biennium.

"I think it's the best budget for higher education in several years," said Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, chairwoman of the House appropriations committee.

The governor and the House, which favored expanding college enrollment and maintaining funding, started the discussions on the opposite side from the Senate, which proposed cutting tuition revenue to the schools in order to expand financial aid.

"We went halfway," Sommers said. "The Senate had an $80 million amount for higher education, we had $140 million, and we ended up at $110 million."

The Legislature has approved tuition increases at all schools: 7 percent at the University of Washington and Washington State University; 6 percent at Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Central Washington University and The Evergreen State College; and 5 percent at the community and technical colleges.

A portion of new tuition revenue has been directed to pay for state financial aid. Twenty-five percent of the tuition increases for incoming resident undergraduates will go to the state's need-grant program instead of going back to the school.

"I am concerned about that," said Western's Morse. "It's important to retain the tuition our students pay to preserve the quality of education they expect."

With the help of the tuition money, the state was able to expand financial aid by 20 percent. The state need-grant program, currently available for students from families who make no more than 55 percent of the median family income, will now be available to families who make up to 65 percent of the median family income, or about $43,300 for a family of four.

The Legislature decided to phase out the Promise Scholarship program, which guaranteed a scholarship to low- and middle-income students who graduate in the top 15 percent of their high schools. The program was one of the few forms of financial aid available to middle-income students.

Several branch campuses will get money to enroll lower-division students. UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, WSU Vancouver and WSU Tri-Cities will start admitting freshmen in fall 2006.

Higher-education officials were especially excited by the state's decision to dedicate money from the reinstated estate tax to education. In most years, higher-education funding has been used to balance the budget.

"It's the first legislative effort in my 12-year presidency that they dedicated a revenue stream to higher education," Western's Morse said.

College administrators were less excited about a 1 percent cut to non-instruction programs, which include libraries and technology support. At the UW, the 1 percent will reduce those programs by $2.6 million.

Overall, though, the colleges didn't complain.

"Considering the Legislature was dealing with a big hole in their budgets, we were pleased that they addressed many of the outstanding issues in higher education," said Karl Boehmke, WSU's budget director.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com