2-year WA tuition may be scaring students away
SEATTLE (AP) - Community college tuition has gone up so much during the economic downturn that students at Washington's two-year colleges are now paying what a University of Washington student paid just over a decade ago.
College officials say $4,000 to $5,000 a year in full-time tuition, depending on credit hours and majors, is still a bargain compared to what it costs to go to UW today but the state's 34 community and technical colleges do have about 6 percent fewer students this fall.
Marty Brown, the executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, believes that drop in student enrollment is due to a number of factors including tuition and the fact that some people are going back to work.
Kevin Moh, who is in his final quarter at Seattle Central Community College, has seen his quarterly tuition and fees go from about $1,100 a quarter two and a half years ago to about $1,500 a quarter this year.
Moh works several part-time jobs as a dishwasher, works summers helping his uncle who runs a landscaping business and gets some financial aid. But he doesn't complain about the cost of tuition.
"School's an investment," said Moh, who plans to transfer to Central Washington University to study aviation after he gets his associates degree from Seattle Central.
Colleges have not been able to keep up with students' financial aid needs, but they're doing what they can from financial aid to online classes and open source textbooks, Brown said.
The state's Running Start program also saves more than 3,000 young people money by enabling them to earn college credits for free while still enrolled in high school.
Despite the additional money the Legislature has put into the state need grant program, more than 30,000 students were eligible for a state grant this fall but didn't get one because there's not enough money to go around, Brown said. About 74,000 students did get a state need grant.
There's no question that some students are beginning to find it difficult to afford college, said Laura Saunders, interim president of Bellevue College.
So the state's largest community college is doing whatever it can to keep them in school.
The college's own fundraising efforts made it possible to distribute $460,000 in scholarships on top of state and federal grants and loans. A textbook rental program is allowing students to borrow a book for $30 instead of usual $100 or more. Students can check out a computer from the school library for use all semester. School officials have made a commitment to not raise student fees.
Seattle Central Community College is doing some research this year to gather more information about why students drop out, hoping to find out how much of an impact tuition increases are having on their students, said college spokeswoman Patricia Paquette.
They may want to talk to student Patricia Barnes, 55, who has gone back to school thanks to financial aid, but sees how much some of her fellow students are struggling to afford college. She worries about the student loans they are racking up and the cost of textbooks.
Barnes didn't get a chance to go to college as a young person after becoming a teen mom and went straight to work instead.
"I believe education should be affordable especially in times like this," she said.
Tuition has gone up so much during the recession because the Legislature has been cutting the state higher education budget and told colleges they could charge more to balance their budgets.
Lawmakers have cut more than $1.4 billion from higher education since 2009, according to the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.
Saunders and Brown said they felt the state had hit the point where tuition rates have become a factor for students considering enrolling in college. She expressed optimism, however, that both candidates for governor would reprioritize higher education in the state budget.
While the state constitution protects K-12 education, cuts to higher education have become one of the main ways the Legislature balances the budget.
"I suspect we're at the end of that," Saunders said. "I think community colleges are going to say to the Legislature: Don't raise tuition again. Don't balance the budget on the backs of our students."
College officials say $4,000 to $5,000 a year in full-time tuition, depending on credit hours and majors, is still a bargain compared to what it costs to go to UW today but the state's 34 community and technical colleges do have about 6 percent fewer students this fall.
Marty Brown, the executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, believes that drop in student enrollment is due to a number of factors including tuition and the fact that some people are going back to work.
Kevin Moh, who is in his final quarter at Seattle Central Community College, has seen his quarterly tuition and fees go from about $1,100 a quarter two and a half years ago to about $1,500 a quarter this year.
Moh works several part-time jobs as a dishwasher, works summers helping his uncle who runs a landscaping business and gets some financial aid. But he doesn't complain about the cost of tuition.
"School's an investment," said Moh, who plans to transfer to Central Washington University to study aviation after he gets his associates degree from Seattle Central.
Colleges have not been able to keep up with students' financial aid needs, but they're doing what they can from financial aid to online classes and open source textbooks, Brown said.
The state's Running Start program also saves more than 3,000 young people money by enabling them to earn college credits for free while still enrolled in high school.
Despite the additional money the Legislature has put into the state need grant program, more than 30,000 students were eligible for a state grant this fall but didn't get one because there's not enough money to go around, Brown said. About 74,000 students did get a state need grant.
There's no question that some students are beginning to find it difficult to afford college, said Laura Saunders, interim president of Bellevue College.
So the state's largest community college is doing whatever it can to keep them in school.
The college's own fundraising efforts made it possible to distribute $460,000 in scholarships on top of state and federal grants and loans. A textbook rental program is allowing students to borrow a book for $30 instead of usual $100 or more. Students can check out a computer from the school library for use all semester. School officials have made a commitment to not raise student fees.
Seattle Central Community College is doing some research this year to gather more information about why students drop out, hoping to find out how much of an impact tuition increases are having on their students, said college spokeswoman Patricia Paquette.
They may want to talk to student Patricia Barnes, 55, who has gone back to school thanks to financial aid, but sees how much some of her fellow students are struggling to afford college. She worries about the student loans they are racking up and the cost of textbooks.
Barnes didn't get a chance to go to college as a young person after becoming a teen mom and went straight to work instead.
"I believe education should be affordable especially in times like this," she said.
Tuition has gone up so much during the recession because the Legislature has been cutting the state higher education budget and told colleges they could charge more to balance their budgets.
Lawmakers have cut more than $1.4 billion from higher education since 2009, according to the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.
Saunders and Brown said they felt the state had hit the point where tuition rates have become a factor for students considering enrolling in college. She expressed optimism, however, that both candidates for governor would reprioritize higher education in the state budget.
While the state constitution protects K-12 education, cuts to higher education have become one of the main ways the Legislature balances the budget.
"I suspect we're at the end of that," Saunders said. "I think community colleges are going to say to the Legislature: Don't raise tuition again. Don't balance the budget on the backs of our students."
Don't get upset. Â Those of you that are here for sanctuary will still get first in line and your tuition paid for by the taxpayers.
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Now, you American kids that want to get a formal education. Â Get a prayer rug, votre Obama, and then you might be able to get in.
College does not guarantee you anything but can give you a good start.Nothing wrong with going to Community College.The prices are a bargain.Â
Go to Community College for two years than finish up your last two years at four year state school.
There are two main issues that were minimally addressed in this article. Yes, the textbook rental program is there to help save money instead of having to purchase an outrageously priced textbook however in my 2 years at college, not ONE single book I had to get for any of my classes was available for rental. How in the hell is it supposed to save students money when they don't even have a reasonable selection of books to rent?
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The other issue is the State Needs grant. It wasn't too long ago when Komo wrote an article about a push for illegal immigrants to be qualified for the State Needs grant. My first year in school I was denied the State Needs grant. Not because I didn't qualify but there wasn't any funding left. If illegals are allowed to qualify for this grant, what is it going to do for those of us who are true American citizens and depend on financial aid such as this grant for our schooling? There isn't enough to go around as it is.
"A community is only as strong as the education of it's people." " Take away their education and you take away the community. "
First off, the title of this article is just plain stupid. If the price was scaring students off, then what explains students going to private colleges who charge four times as much. This "news" article is more opinion than news.
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Second, schools and professors have had a blank check handed to them for too long, it's time for school administrators and professors face the realities of running an organization. Don't blame the legislature because the school's costs goes up at twice the rate of inflation.
This is ridicules !Â
While there's much to be said about the title of the article, the source does an injustice to the reality.
30 year ago, I attended GRCC with the intent to get a transfer degree in mechanical engineering. After two years, I found out that my my transfer degree was 2nd rate at best. It seems that anyone that attended UW as a freshman had dibs on all the classes I needed to take to complete my degree. Marks didn't matter. It's a good ole boy club.
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Fair warning to those that try to get ahead using the CC system.
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@bobalouie The CC system worked for me. I graduated in 2000 from Tacoma Community College, and I transferred to Ashford University and got a four-year degree in 2010.
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The entire Washington State higher ed system is so messed up. I hate the Running Start program. Every one of my daughter's friends that participated, regretted it. They missed out on their high school experience AND most of the girls I knew of that went to the Community College in high school, ended up mixed up with older men who were in their classes. Â it's a terrible idea. Â The community colleges here are three and four times what it costs in other States. In fact, if you don't pay out of state tuition, you can afford to go to most other State universities for the same price. It's ridiculous. Â The high schools here seem to be nothing more than transfer-mills for UW and WSU, but oddly enough it's almost impossible to get accepted as a freshman. Â Worst educational system. Ever.Â
@DT My son did not do well in Running Start. It is a good program for the right kids, but it is really a gamble.
@DT Interesting. My older daughter is in it for the first time this year, and she seems to like it just fine - she attends classes with several other kids from her grade. He sister will be attending next year. The only part about it I don't like so far is that for being a program where tuition is free, there sure is one HELL of a lot of non-tuition fees, costs, etc. Free turns out to cost a lot!
And yet illegals get free college? What a country.
My daughter is a running start student and we'd like her to finish getting her AA at a community college & then transfer to a 4 year because it's going to be too finacially draining on the family to have her try and go straight to a 4 year college after she graduates. We have a hard time now paying for the books, classes, extras etc. I don't want to have to have her pay her own way for the first 4 years. It took me forever to crawl out of education debt (10 years). I get night sweats just thinking about how I'm going to make it all work out without asking her to apply for loans which I absolutely refuse to let happen. I think I will have to dip into my retirement fund not sure yet.
@alildifferent Tell me about it! We're in the same boat with two kids and no retirement fund to speak of. Be glad you had that education debt to crawl out of - I didn't, but if I did maybe I'd have a retirement fund, too. :(
 @alildifferent  Well, I suggest you keep an eye on her. Every  young woman I know that went to do classes at the CC during high school, was groomed by the older men in the classes, and ended up in relationships with guys in their late 20s and early 30s, with disastrous results. Parents are so eager to save money that they miss the social ramifications of sending high school students to a community college.Â
@DT @alildifferent Thankfully my kids aren't interested yet.
Personally I think it would be crazy to dip into retirement- college isnt a God given rightÂ
 @Headwrench Neither is retirement...
When I was attending Bellevue Community College in roughly 2000-2004, I don't think my quarterly tuition ever exceeded $500. Anyone mind explaining why they needed to triple that in less than a decade?
@Vexorg I went to Western Wa University in mid 80's and tuition was under $500 and people were shocked that it had nearly doubled in the 2 preceeding years..
If families would stock pile their retirement accounts in life insurance products instead of stocks and bonds, they would qualify for a lot more in the way of grants and scholarships.
Still so much cheaper than the U. Why wouldn't they still go?
 @buggy No offense, but that's a useless argument.  Still cheaper than the U?  Well of course it is, the cost of attending a University is always going to be higher than that of a community college.  And guess what?  The University tuition prices are rising just as quickly.  It's a rabbit chasing a carrot, the carrot is always ahead!
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@Landshark @buggy Through a wonderful program calle Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) my child's Out-of-state college costs is actually LESS than if he went to a college in-state. Plus, the college has a "tuition promise" whereby The rate we paid upon his first quarter will stay the same for 4 years. that, in and of itself, will save us a bundle. Check it out --- www.wiche.edu/wue
 @buggy because the education at the local community colleges, outside of the technical programs, isn't very good.Â
My son was born in September. Although I want to help him through school, tuition is rising at least quadruple what I'm getting in annual raises. There is no way I will be able to even moderately keep up with that at its current pace. I hope this moderates soon. Otherwise people are going to end up in debt for the vast majority of their lives just for getting a four year education.