Magazine lauds four state colleges

Four of Washington's six public colleges and universities have made Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine's list of top 100 values in public education in the country. The list was released Tuesday.

The University of Washington was among the top schools in the country, ranking 10th on the list. The Evergreen State College was 53rd, Western Washington University was 56th, and Washington State University was 98th.

According to Kiplinger's, the ranking is based on "the 100 schools that exemplify excellent academics while keeping their in-state and out-of-state costs to a minimum."

The full list is available online at www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.

Keeping costs to a minimum, however, is a hot-button issue in this state; most of the state schools say they're underfunded and need to raise tuition substantially to keep up with similarly ranked schools around the country.

On Monday, a state task force created by Gov. Chris Gregoire recommended that Washington's schools be given authority to raise tuition significantly if the Legislature can't come up with more funding for higher education.