Community colleges: sigh of relief

While university leaders warned Thursday that Gov. Christine Gregoire's proposed budget could cause serious harm, the state's community colleges breathed a little easier after their cuts didn't go as deep as feared.

Higher-education leaders had been bracing for cuts of up to $600 million. As it turned out, Gregoire proposed cuts of about $350 million. But she proposed the universities shoulder a bigger share of the pain: a 13 percent reduction in state money to each, compared to a 6 percent reduction for community colleges.

One effect of the cuts would be to reduce enrollment or, at best, hold it steady at a time when demand has shot up — in part due to the economic crisis.

"We knew this was coming," University of Washington President Mark Emmert said in a written statement. "But this magnitude of cut, if enacted, would seriously harm the university and impede our ability to serve the higher-education needs of our state's citizens."

Universities would be allowed to increase tuition by 7 percent to help offset the cuts, while community colleges could increase tuition by 5 percent.

Charlie Earl, executive director of the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges, said the smaller cuts for the two-year institutions "makes our long-standing goal of access for students much more doable."

Community colleges were spared the deepest cuts because the governor's office felt those institutions will get the brunt of laid-off workers heading back to college for retraining.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com