Paying top dollar for higher ed

Public institutions discuss charging private tuition rates

MOSES LAKE — Should public universities charge private tuition rates?

This is a question on the minds of many legislators and universities throughout the state.

The idea is to offer tuition prices on a sliding scale according to income level to compensate for tuition increases.

Already, the University of Washington met earlier this year with Gov. Christine Gregoire and state lawmakers on the issue. Public universities in eastern Washington don't appear to be in support of the idea at all.

"This model of privatizing public universities depends on having the more affluent families paying (more) and we just don't have that profile," said Central Washington University President Jerilyn McIntyre.

In McIntyre's perspective, for public universities like the UW, that have more students from higher income brackets, this model might work, but there are few universities around the nation that have that ability.

Aside from tuition increases that could occur from the proposal, universities already have annual increases that they incur.

In the last decade, Eastern Washington University has seen tuition prices jump from $2,349 in 1996 to $4,044 in 2006.

The baseline tuition rate for the 2005-2006 school year at CWU stands at $4,767 and $5,506 at Washington State University. In comparison, private institutions such as Whitman College in Walla Walla and Whitworth College in Spokane charge $28,640 and $22,400, respectively, for tuition.

EWU interim President, Brian Levin-Stankevich, reported that traditionally EWU has had one of the highest number of students receiving state need grants, an indicator that the average family income is not that high. In addition, 46 percent of EWU's students last year were first generation, he added.

Considering the state is trying to increase the number of baccalaureate degrees given out each year, in addition to the challenge of changing demographics in the state with more minority students, increasing tuition prices raises a lot of questions, Levin-Stankevich said.

At WSU, the cost of tuition has gone up six or seven percent a year, said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins.

"I'm all for subsidizing low income students and we do that, but I'm also extremely concerned about middle income students," Rawlins said.

Sen. Joyce Mulliken, R-Moses Lake, has the same concern.

"If they're looking to improve access, they're going to lose the middle class," Mulliken said.

According to the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, a state agency made up of a 10-member citizen board that represents higher education needs in the state, 139,000 students in 2003-2004 received need-based financial aid, representing 40 percent of the total enrolled students in the state. In 2005, the State Need Grant, which is the state's largest financial aid program, is expected to provide aid to 53,500 of Washington's lowest-income undergraduate students.

To be eligible for a State Need Grant, a student's family income cannot exceed 65 percent of the state's median family income. The money can be used at public two- and four-year colleges and universities and accredited independent colleges, universities and career schools in Washington.

Mulliken said if the state is serious about improving access, it will consider alternatives such as distant learning sites and Internet classes so they can be closer to their families.