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Legislature deals with higher edRecent
action by the Washington Legislature will have a profoundly mixed impact
on those in our community attending or planning to attend college this
next term. Plus, those with a mission to help students financially are
faced with taking steps to keep up, narrowing the gap between
scholarship support and the actual costs of a college education. The
lawmakers approved a budget in late April to add 7,900 new “slots”
for the state higher education institutions – 275 of them at the
University of Washington-Bothell. In addition, the state will increase
its funding by $800 per student to a level of $6,303 per year for new
lower division students and $10,000 for upper division enrollees. UW Bothell will be one of four state schools permitted to offer freshman and sophomore classes for the first time – presumably in degree programs that are already offered at UW-B in business, nursing, teaching and an interdisciplinary blend of the arts and sciences. Cascadia
Community College will likely get 77 new “full-time equivalent”
slots in 2005 and 81 more in 2006, and see its state support per student
increase $800 to $5,400 per student per year. On the downside, however, students entering UW Bothell in the fall this year will pay 7 per cent higher tuition costs and Cascadia’s tuition will increase 5 per cent. Both jump the same percentage in 2006, reflecting an increase in cost from 2004 to 2006 of nearly 14.5 per cent at the four-year universities and 10.25 per cent at the community and technical schools. The
legislators required that 25 per cent of the dollars raised by the
tuition increases be designated for the “need-grant” financial aid
program. Families of four with a median family annual income of $43,300
will be eligible to receive financial aid through this program. The
requirement was somewhat lower at $35,500 in previous years. These
relatively sweeping changes for both Bothell schools come at a time when
UW-B and Cascadia are both searching for leaders at the top. Chancellor
Warren Buck is leaving his post at UW-B after five years to return to
teaching and Steven Olswang, a vice provost at the UW Montlake campus,
will move from an “interim” position at UW Tacoma to become interim
chancellor at Bothell, starting in July. He does not plan to seek the
post permanently. Cascadia
has been without a permanent president since last summer with Brinton
Sprague serving in an interim capacity while the college board of
trustees completes its search. Even the college’s board has seen
changes this past year. Against
this backdrop at the local level is the need to complete that missing SR
522 freeway south off ramp system that will alleviate traffic snarls
related to the non-residential, co-located campus. Without it, the city
of Bothell is unlikely to lift an enrollment lid it placed on the
schools as long as Beardslee Blvd. remains the only access route in and
out of the campus. Design monies are reportedly at work and a federal
construction grant has been promised but who knows when a completion
date can be set? The 127-acre campus is supposedly capable of handling
an enrollment of 10,000. The
tuition increase puts the Northshore Scholarship Foundation trustees in
a quandary. The trustees have been exploring the possibility of setting
a scholarship dollar minimum that would at least cover one quarter of
tuition costs at a state four-year university. The tuition target keeps
moving while the trustees deliberate. The first suggestion was to raise
the scholarship minimum to $1,500 on the 29 endowments that presently
provide scholarships averaging $1,224. By
the fall of 2006, the average quarter’s tuition cost at University of
Washington, Washington State University and the four regional colleges
may hit $1,637. The Foundation may have to raise the bar to $1,700 to
keep pace. Fourteen of the 43 endowments already produce scholarships
from $1,500 to as much as $3,100 each. Meanwhile,
the Foundation is prepared to award 92 scholarships totaling $128,570 at
its May 25 recognition breakfast. The awards will go to 2005 grads of
Northshore’s four secondary schools and to students at UW Bothell and
Cascadia. If
the Foundation embarks on a fund-raising campaign later this year to
raise its minimum scholarship amount, 100 recipients could receive
financial help from this community next spring totaling $152,250. Not a
bad goal. Not a bad tribute to how Northshore values education.
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The Previous Columns April
20, 2005 April
6, 2005 March
16, 2005 March
2, 2005 February
16, 2005 February
2, 2005 January
19, 2005 January
5, 2005 December
15, 2004 December
1, 2004 Nov.
17, 2004 November
3, 2004 October
20, 2004 October
6, 2004 Sept
15, 2004 Sept.
1, 2004 August
18, 2004 August
4, 2004 July
21, 2004 July
7, 2004 |
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John
B. Hughes |
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Hughes
serves
as grand marshal |
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Hugo
and (425) 482-4076 |
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