January 31, 2002
HEC Board calls for tuition authority
University Week Staff Report
The Washington Higher Education Coordinating (HEC) Board last week voted unanimously in support of a resolution that recommends giving tuition-setting authority to public colleges and universities and encourages a restructuring or expansion of the state’s tax system.
The HEC Board held a special meeting and solicited public testimony before passing the resolution that aims to protect public higher education.
“The Higher Education Coordinating Board recommends to the Governor and the Legislature that the governing boards of Washington’s public colleges and universities be given tuition-setting authority,” the resolution reads.
That reverses a longtime policy of favoring legislative control over tuition at the state’s colleges and universities. Currently the Legislature grants “up-to authority,” meaning institutions can raise tuition up to a limit set by lawmakers. That limit for the upcoming 2002-03 academic year is 6.1 percent.
At the Jan. 24 meeting the HEC Board also recommended the state examine all possible sources of funding, including restructuring or expansion of the tax system, in order to find a permanent and dedicated funding source for higher education. The resolution went on to recommend that if and when they’re given authority, the governing boards preserve the state policy of affordable and predictable tuition. It also recommends a public process for setting tuition that will allow for comment from the governor, Legislature, HEC Board, students and the public.
The resolution also:
- Recommends that the governing boards ensure that institutional financial aid is available and increased at a rate compatible with tuition increases — something the UW has said it would do from the start of discussions about tuition authority;
- Implores the state to maintain a baseline of overall funding support and to fund projected enrollment increases and financial aid and scholarship programs, “including the increases necessary to ensure students are not deprived of access to higher education due to tuition increases”; and
- Suggests establishing a Washington Promise Scholarship for students of merit and that the colleges and universities determine how changes in tuition affect the demographic and socioeconomic composition of the student body.
