Think about families

I was disturbed to read the article in the Tuesday Jan. 31 edition of The Seattle Times about proposed differential-tuition rates, and the effect that it will have on families who use the GET program to prepay tuition [“Differing tuition rates could sting those who prepay,” NWTuesday, Jan. 31]. The article characterized the proposal as a “sting,” and State Sen. Jim Kastama called it a “bait and switch.”

Our family will be one of those affected by the proposal. We are contributing almost $71,000 into the GET program in lump-sum and custom-monthly payments over the next 13 years to send our 5-year-old son to college. I thought that this program was backed by the full faith and credit of the state of Washington. I am very upset that there appears to be an effort to devalue our contributions.

Please do all that you can to keep the GET program solvent, and to keep its promise that 100 units will pay for a year of education. Our family cannot afford to make a $71,000 mistake. Our son is depending on us.

— John Witters, Everett