Prospects dim for tuition-setting bill for universities

OLYMPIA — A bill that would allow the state's largest universities to set their own tuition, within limits, appears all but dead after it failed to move out of a House committee Tuesday.

The hotly debated bill, SB 6562, had earlier passed the Senate 29-19 in a vote that split lawmakers along ideological, rather than party, lines. But the bill ran out of gas in the House Higher Education Committee, where it was opposed by committee chairwoman Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver.

"The buck stops right here with the Legislature," Wallace said. "We are not stepping up to our responsibility in a way that I think we should. But it's important that we keep ownership and accountability."

Wallace chided university leaders for exaggerating the severity of state funding cuts. She said the universities' public claim that state funding has been reduced by about 25 percent doesn't take into account federal stimulus money and tuition increases, which have limited the actual funding reduction to about 5 percent.

Neither the Senate bill nor a series of alternatives offered up by Wallace and others appeared to have enough support to pass out of the committee. So after two hours of public debate, Wallace adjourned the session without taking a vote.

Some lawmakers said with tuition increases already approved for the coming fall, they can wait until next year before taking action. The Legislature last year allowed universities to raise tuition 14 percent last fall and another 14 percent this fall.

The state's largest universities, however, have sought authority to set tuition for resident undergraduate students to provide more flexibility and certainty in their budgets.

There remains the outside possibility the tuition proposal could be revived before the session is over.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, would give the University of Washington, Washington State University and Western Washington University the authority to set tuition for a trial period of seven years. The universities would be allowed to raise tuition as much as 14 percent in any given year, but not more than an average of 9 percent calculated over 15 years.

In return, the universities would be required to sign performance agreements and to guarantee poorer students received discounted or free tuition.

Wallace's alternative version would allow lawmakers to retain more control over tuition. But it would have allowed the UW, WSU and WWU to raise tuition by 9 percent each year from 2011.

A number of business and education leaders spoke in favor of the Senate bill. They said the Legislature's top priority should be retaining the quality of education, which was under threat from budget cuts.

Several student leaders spoke against the bill, saying further large tuition increases would price some out of higher education altogether.

This year's debate was prompted by funding cuts. Universities remain vulnerable to further cuts as long as the budget outlook remains dismal, lawmakers say.