Washington is the 18th largest and the 13th most populous state in the union with several powerhouse Fortune 500 companies such as discount retail giant Costco, coffee chain Starbucks, and huge tech companies including Amazon and Microsoft.
The higher education system in Washington includes six public universities, and thirty-four community colleges and technical schools serving more than 233,000 FTE students. In addition state funded universities, Washington also has 14 private institutions. The six state-funded universities, are each governed by their own Board of Regents or Trustees appointed by the Governor and approved by the Senate. Among these four-year institutions are placed into a research or comprehensive category. Research universities focus mainly on research, as their name implies, and provide a bachelor’s and graduate programs, including doctoral and professional degrees. Comprehensive institutions provide programs for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. With this being said, higher education accounts for approximately 18.1% of the total state budget and 8.2% of the general fund. Unfortunately this is still far below the “maintenance level” that is required for the universities to provide the same level of service as they did the year before. A maintenance-level budget includes cost increases over which the institutions have no control, such as negotiated wage and benefit agreements, inflation in the cost of goods and services, and increased energy costs. In
Especially for the Education portion, K-12 education expenses grew by 605 million or 8.8 percent over the prior year. Higher education expenses grew by 466 million, because more freshman in the state college/universities.
One of the culprits hindering higher education for Americans is the tuition rates. A report by the Delta Cost Project indicates that if tuition had grown in pace with inflation, the average tuition at in-state public colleges would only have been $2,052 in 2010. The actual price of tuition was around $7,500, and it is increasing at around 5% per year, about twice as fast as the rate of inflation. Whereas everything else in the economy doubles in cost about every 32 years, college costs have been doubling around every 15 years. In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, titled How the Changing Market Structure of U.S. Higher Education Explains College, the author, Caroline Hoxby, states that universities have little incentive
The state of California has long been reliant on the University of California system to provide its resident companies with skilled and educated business, technology, and science leaders. Highly regarded as one of the top educational systems in the world, the University of California boasts a high number of distinguished and respected faculty members in almost every field of study. However, while most private colleges and universities have learned how to streamline their processes in order to better respond to stakeholder needs, public educational institutions, such as the University of California, have not been willing to control their bureaucratic growth resulting in a rise of tuition rates and a decline in the level of student satisfaction. In her article for the TIME magazine, Kate Pickert writes that as recently as November of this year the University of California has approved a plan that could raise tuition rates by up to 28% (Pickert). Pickert also points out that the tuition rates at the University of California have more than tripled since 2001. The University of California has blamed the increased tuition on the state of California budget cuts caused by the economic downturn of recent years. However, a closer examination of the University of California faculty and administration data makes it obvious that the higher rates of tuition are cause by the inability and
Funding for Oklahoma schools has fallen dramatically in recent years, with Oklahoma spending $706 less per student in inflation-adjusted dollars that it did in 2008, and Oklahomans are worried about it, and rightly so (Gene, 1). In looking toward a quick-fix, many have argued that Oklahoma need only reduce its administrative costs, thus
The National Conference of State Legislatures said, “School budget crunches have been a trend over the past couple years and span the entire nation” (qtd. in Van
Thesis: Thousands of colleges across the country have steadily increased tuition throughout the years and Colorado State University is no different. Today I will share with you both the perspective of those that believe tuition increases are necessary and of those against it in order to help form my own opinion on the necessity of tuition increases here at CSU.
“College Prices Soar Again!” “Budget Cuts Cause Even Higher Tuition!” “Higher Education Now Even Less Affordable” These are all statements that have been seen all over the media: newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. (3 SV: SV) Rising college tuition in America has been a problem for years. Many students drop out after a single year due to the pricey costs of tuition. The rapid rise can be attributed to many aspects of the economy, not just a single source. There have also been some propositions of how costs could be lowered, but these have yet to be seen. The United States has gone into a tuition crisis.
Research indicates a steep upward trend in the cost of higher education throughout the 20th century. In recent decades, America has witnessed a widening gap between inflation and tuition. An incoming freshman at a typical college incurs charges for tuition, university fees, books, room and board,
Since 1974, tuition has been on the rise and has reached new heights. One reason why tuition is increasing is because of “the state governments’ unwillingness or inability to raise per-student financing” (Davidson). The government is spending less on college and moving those funds into other categories, such as the military. Furthermore, colleges are spending less on each student than they did during pre-recession (Fox). Even after the recession, the government is continuously cutting more and more from education funds. As the government cuts more from education funds, tuition cost will steadily increase to compensate the loss. Tuition increased from 1994 to 2015 is depicted in the graph on the next page. Drawing a conclusion from the graph, it is possible that if this trend continues, public colleges will approximately reach the same price as private colleges one day. The amount of financial aid given is unable to meet the needs of lower income students,
The topic of this paper is the states’ decreasing financial support of higher education, the reaction and response from institutions who have lost funding, and the creative ways public institutions are locating additional streams of revenue. States have been the primary backer of public institutions, but since the recession states have shown less commitment financially while still heavily regulating higher education. As a result some institutions have had to change their practices while others have challenged their state’s regulations all together. Many have speculated that state funding may never return to its former highs. Rather than make an enemy of the state, some schools have discovered new and unconvential ways of raising funds for their institution.
The university is becoming too business focused and losing grip on what it was originally intended to provide: and education. All universities receive some kind of funding no matter if they are public or private. Oftentimes, funding is critical to the functioning of all universities. Without the funding, the university would falter. Because of this dependence, the funding is dictating where the money is dispersed. Weather it is to new research, tenured professors, or expensive presidents of universities like Hacker and Driefus propose (Hacker and Dreifus. Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission? par 7, 9, and 10). Or allowing professors to receive private funding to provide new research (Hank and Hearn. Out of the Ruins, The University to
Higher education costs have been increasing at a rapid pace, faster than inflation for the economy as a whole, for the past fifty years. It started in the 1960’s when the federal government passed the Higher Education Act to increase the amount of people able to afford and attend college. Regardless of the Unites States Government efforts to increase the affordability of college, federal aid programs have not risen to expectations due to the ever-increasing college prices. To lower the price of college, the government needs to cut back on student financial spending to go only to the lowest income families and create tax incentives for families to start saving up on their own.
State contributions to the 2009-10 operating budget declined by $189 million at UCLA, $109 million at University of Florida, $99 million at University of Washington, and $63 million at Louisiana State University (LSU), according to a Nov.1, 2009, New York Times article by Paul Fain. The percentage decline was equally significant, ranging from 33 percent at UCLA to 27 percent at LSU. (24)
The tuition increases have come in response to the lack of federal funding to universities, leading them to find their own way to provide for their upkeep. “Recent increases in university tuition fees are part of a new entrepreneurial trend in higher education in which institutions are expected to generate more of their own revenue” (Quirke). The universities have decided that since they can no longer look towards federal funds to fuel their costs of maintenance and revenue, they must find a new route towards attaining much needed funds, and they have chosen to
These four part financial steps are a vital area we felt that would be of great contribution to help address the current financial problem PC is facing. Exploring each step within the recovery plan will provide a clear understanding of how PC administration is expected to put the institution in good financial standing. These financial plans will be successful based on the information that was collected and research conducted throughout the academic year. As noted by Lorin (2014) College prices in the U.S have gain increased faster than the rate of inflation, extending decades long pattern of higher education costs. According to the College Board, a decade ago tuition and fee jumped 10.4 percent for in state students at a four yea-public colleges and 5.8 percent at private schools. The institution had a negative net