The University of Washington’s 2019 State Legislative Agenda

Public higher education provides the greatest opportunity for prosperity and well-being for individuals and communities, so it must be both affordable and of the highest quality. At the University of Washington, that belief is at the forefront of all we do.

The Washington State 2019 legislative session begins Jan. 14 and is scheduled to last 100 days to consider biennial operating and capital budgets for the state. During session, the Office of State Relations will work with our campus partners to advance the University of Washington’s legislative priorities. Our 2019 legislative agenda focuses on investments that are critical to our ability to provide both access and excellence to students and communities across the state.

To view the University of Washington’s 2019 legislative agenda in its entirety, click here. These priorities have been determined through an extensive process led by the Office of the President and Office of the Provost.

UW and WSU launch joint campaign to promote higher education affordability

The University of Washington and Washington State University have joined together for a new public-awareness campaign to promote the affordability of higher education in Washington state. The “Yes, It’s Possible,” campaign launched today with a string of joint activities designed to raise awareness of the importance and value of higher education and the higher education opportunities available to students in Washington.

“Students and their families read these headlines about the massive debt load that students are under and the exorbitant cost of getting a bachelor’s degree, and we’re concerned that they might be making decisions based on that when, in fact, our public institutions in the state of Washington are doing a fabulous job of keeping it affordable,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “That’s the notion of, ‘Yes, it’s possible.’ We want them to know that if they want to go to college in our state, in our public universities and community colleges, it is possible for them to go to school and it doesn’t take crippling debt loads.”

From the VP – Tuition and State Funding Can’t Both Be Low, Can They?

I was interested to see the story from KNKX radio in yesterday’s news clips that showed that the University of Washington has the lowest “net” price for families of any university in the state according to The Hechinger Report and Education Writers Association. This study lets consumers see the sticker price and then the net price that students and families actually pay once all financial aid and scholarships are factored in. This low net price is a testament both to our state legislature which has been relentlessly focused on keeping college tuition affordable since the end of the Great Recession and the thousands of generous UW donors who have contributed towards student scholarships during our current Be Boundless capital campaign.

While low tuition is a good deal for students and families, it remains also a huge part of the funding that keeps the UW and other four year institutional operating budgets afloat. That’s why if a state is going to go the route of keeping tuition low, it’s critical that state funding make up the difference. Most of the UW’s competitive peers around the nation who have low tuition for resident undergraduates enjoy relative high levels of state funding per student.

The funding crisis that the UW faces as we head into the 2019 state legislative session is that this situation is not the case for our university. In her annual address to the campus last Tuesday, President Cauce displayed a series of charts that show while the UW ranks near the bottom in terms of our tuition price, it also ranks third from the bottom of our 25 public peer group in state funding per student – about $5200 per student compared to $14,000 to $24,000 per student for the four universities who also rank low on tuition per student.

As the saying goes, “this is no way to run a railroad!” It simply isn’t sustainable for a large flagship university to rank low in both state funding and tuition revenue per student. Given the recent rapid rise in the cost of living in the Seattle metropolitan area, it’s also a recipe for long term disaster. These are the stakes as we head into what some legislators have hopefully called “the year for higher education.” We hope so too.

UW fourth among U.S. public institutions

The University of Washington has been ranked No. 28 in the world and fourth among U.S. public institutions on the Times Higher Education world rankings for 2019. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings judge research-intensive universities across all of their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. Read more from UW News.

Federal appropriations: Deal reached for funding through early December

Congressional leaders have reached an agreement that will keep the government funded through early December. At least five full spending bills will be signed into law by President Trump before the new fiscal year begins on October 1 with the first package of three bills expected to clear the House with the adoption of a conference report this week. Read more from Federal Relations on their blog and check out their FY 2019 Approps chart here.