Six months ago the state of Washington faced a $900 million deficit and UW officials feared drastic budget cuts, salary reductions and a tuition increase.
Instead, the Washington State Legislature adjourned March 12 with a budget that left officials “very, very pleased,” says Bob Edie, the UW director of government relations.
Part of the relief was an unexpected drop in the state’s deficit to about $750 million, which spared the legislature from raising student tuition. A faculty and staff salary raise, which the governor had recommended dropping, was revived, promising an average 3 percent raise next Jan. 1.
Because many UW peer institutions have been battered by the recession, rankings such as the average faculty salary will improve under the new budget. Edie says the UW is in a good position for the future, “particularly when you look around the country, in states like California, New York and Minnesota. I think we should consider ourselves lucky.”
The University of Washington had already taken a $17 million cut before the session began. At one point it looked as if all state agencies—including the UW—might take another 5 percent slashing, which would have meant a $34 million loss to the University.
While there will be no more funding cuts, lawmakers decided to trim the state’s budget burden by reducing tuition waivers. The UW currently awards 4,724 tuition waivers to undergraduate and graduate students. These waivers cover everything from TA and RA appointments to athletic gender-equity waivers, military and veteran programs, and reciprocity agreements with other states.
The UW will have to cut its waiver program 6.6 percent. Rather than drop a certain number of students entirely, leaving them in great financial hardship, the UW will spread the cut over a larger portion of the waiver group. Beginning this fall some students will get only a partial waiver rather than a full tuition break. In many tuition categories, the UW will waive about 87 percent of their tuition and students will have to pick up the rest.
On the positive side, the legislature has taken the first step in what the UW hopes will be a trend toward ”local control” of tuition. Until now, the state set tuition, the UW collected it and then sent it to Olympia’s general fund. There was no clear link between the money sent to Olympia and the funds the state sets aside to run the UW.
Now there is a separate account in the state budget for each higher education institution, noting the amount of student “operating fees” it collects. While ultimately UW officials would like to see the Board of Regents set tuition rates and retain the money, they see this separate account as an important first step.
In the state’s revised capital budget, the UW received $650,000 to begin designing a new School of Business facility that will double the size of the library and add lecture halls. The total cost of that project is estimated at $13 million, with about half coming from private sources. Two UW cultural institutions also received capital funds. The Burke Museum got $2.2 million for building renovations and new exhibits. The Henry Art Gallery got $300,000 in planning money to help design an $8 million addition, half of which must be funded with private donations.