AG: Legislature may need to vote again on tuition
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - An informal opinion from the Washington attorney general's office says lawmakers may need to take another vote on whether the state's public universities can set their own tuition rates.
The opinion mailed Wednesday by Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Even is in response to a question from state Sen. Pam Roach. It concludes that voter approval of Initiative 1185 on tax and fee increases applies to tuition, which is considered a fee. The opinion is based on the answer to a legislative query last year on transportation fees.
The Legislature gave the state's four-year schools tuition-setting authority in 2011. Double-digit tuition increases have nearly doubled tuition at Washington schools over the past five years.
Tim Eyman sponsored the tax-limiting initiative. He applauds the opinion and says he hopes the Legislature won't decide to vote again to let the universities set their own tuition rates.
In her final budget proposal, outgoing Gov. Chris Gregoire asked the state's four-year schools to consider freezing tuition for the next two years. They responded to news media questions by saying they would need some more cash from the state to make a tuition freeze feasible.
Sen. Roach, R-Auburn, said she was inspired to ask her question when the university presidents took that "arrogant shot across the bow."
She believes voters want someone accountable to be making decisions like this that cost them money.
"Legislators divested themselves of the responsibility and authority," Roach said. "Now we have the opportunity to take this responsibility back, which is the way it should be."
The opinion mailed Wednesday by Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Even is in response to a question from state Sen. Pam Roach. It concludes that voter approval of Initiative 1185 on tax and fee increases applies to tuition, which is considered a fee. The opinion is based on the answer to a legislative query last year on transportation fees.
The Legislature gave the state's four-year schools tuition-setting authority in 2011. Double-digit tuition increases have nearly doubled tuition at Washington schools over the past five years.
Tim Eyman sponsored the tax-limiting initiative. He applauds the opinion and says he hopes the Legislature won't decide to vote again to let the universities set their own tuition rates.
In her final budget proposal, outgoing Gov. Chris Gregoire asked the state's four-year schools to consider freezing tuition for the next two years. They responded to news media questions by saying they would need some more cash from the state to make a tuition freeze feasible.
Sen. Roach, R-Auburn, said she was inspired to ask her question when the university presidents took that "arrogant shot across the bow."
She believes voters want someone accountable to be making decisions like this that cost them money.
"Legislators divested themselves of the responsibility and authority," Roach said. "Now we have the opportunity to take this responsibility back, which is the way it should be."
Finally, Pam Roach has stated something that I can agree with.
So why does online tuition cost the same as class room tuition from the same university? To me, this is where cost savings should be mandated. It took me 2 years to get my masters degree online. I never left my house, yet I'm still more than $20K in debt to student loans! Online learning should have a huge cost benefit!
It is like somany parts of a government run operation, they have a spending problem.
For to many years they kept demanding more money because they just couldn't do it for less or the same amount and the state kept obliging them. They will always live up to every dollar given them and no amount will ever be enough. Unless the school is private they shouldn't be setting their own tuition or there own wages. A yearly audit of these schools will tell you where all the money goes and where expenses can be cut without taking away from the students education.
I find myself in a weird state of agreement with Sen. Roach. I can't help but wonder what knife she has in her other hand.
Seems to me that educators (and I am not in any way affiliated with any school in any form) are continuously being told by the state "You cannot have as much money as you did last year from taxes, you must pay at least minimum wage (which incidently went up 15 cents just recently), we know that ALL of your costs will go up, and you'll not be allowed to raise tuition. How are you going to manage? Well, times are tough for everyone and don't even THINK of laying anyone off."
If people are not willing to go into debt up to their ears then maybe companies will start TRAINING WORKERS AGAIN. That is unless the government lets immigrants in to fill the jobs in a attempt to help the world.... at our expense.
We are on a fast track to make higher education unaffordable. Our kids will end up working minimum wage or other inferior jobs. The American Dream will turn into a nightmare, if we don't address this rather quickly.Â
 @Komo Dragon higher education, especially at universities, is already unaffordable evidenced by the several decade long debt payment schedule one must take on in order to receive a diploma. I know a lot of people graduating from run of the mill universities with $40,000 or more in debtÂ
 @bearzooka the real question is why is education so expensive? Where does all the money go, and why do cost increase so much faster than inflation? Something is wrong in the State of Denmark.
 @Komo Dragon Well, there are several reasons education is so expensive.  To be sure, some of it is waste--and that should be audited & cut out immediately.  HOWEVER, kids these days (and their parents) want the little darlings to have state-of-the-art media facilities, gyms, health facilities, entertainment facilities, "restaurant selections" for meals, high-tech dorms, 24/7 tech support, etc. - and that costs money, lots of it, to build & maintain.  Then, there are the ever-growing numbers of regulations on research, that have to be documented and reported on with ever-increasing frequency and detail - and that takes people just to do that (because it's so time consuming & requires specific, detailed knowledge), which again costs plenty.  So what's the answer?  Beats me. Just glad I'm old & already did that long ago - but I do worry a lot about our future.