As the new quarter starts, undergraduate students are facing increased tuition costs, with the price tag to attend classes up 14 percent over last year and a promise that it will go up another 14 next year. It comes as no surprise that the cost to attend classes is frequently identified as one of the reasons so few students finish their schooling. According to a study released earlier this month, fewer than six in ten entering students stay long enough to complete a bachelor's degree. The University of Washington fares a bit better with 75 percent of students who enter finishing within six years of starting. Among minority students, the completion rate is slightly more than 66 percent. Native Americans fare worst, with a graduation rate of about 57 percent. Unfortunately there is no way to track actual graduation rates. I, for example, took nearly 20-years to obtain my bachelor's degree as I tried to fit classes into my work schedule (admittedly, I was also lazy about it and didn't decide what I wanted to be when I grow up until I was 45!)
In the meantime, Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board is considering a change to the way the state and universities share the costs of educating college students. The draft policy calls for the state to pay 55% while universities would pick up 45 percent of the tab. The state currently pays less than half of the cost at four of the state's six 4-year public universities.
Representatives of the UW and Washington State University are opposed to the plan. They say it could limit their ability to balance budgets and offer a quality education.
Studies done by the state show that tuition and fees are growing faster than our family incomes, and when the state decreases its financial commitment to higher education, tuition and fees increase dramatically.
Don't I know it.