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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Education / Politics / Media / Money Follow the Money on Rising Tuition Costs

Posted by Goldy on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 7:05 AM

I myself found President Obama's State of the Union line about withholding federal funds from colleges and universities that raise tuition too quickly, to be both odd and misguided. So I don't disagree with the Seattle Times editorial board, that much of the blame for dramatically rising college tuition falls on state legislatures that have slashed funding for public university systems, forcing more of the cost onto students.

But, um, where do the editors think these legislatures get their money?

Yes, Washington's legislators have consistently failed to adequately fund both K-12 and higher education, to the tune of arguably billions of dollars of a year. But they've done so at the same time our state's daily newspapers have relentlessly editorialized against any and all proposals to raise substantial new tax revenues.

So if the Seattle Times really wants to find the root causes of our collective failure to pony up the cash necessary to educate future generations, they should follow the money (or lack thereof)... a trail that will surely lead back to their own op/ed pages.

Comments (8) RSS

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McKenna is already talking about getting the money for education from state workers. Sound familiar? In the meantime, Bill Gates says he's not being taxed enough.

Posted by Vince on January 26, 2012 at 7:54 AM

Disagree, in part. Tuitions are rising because of administrative costs (*cough* vice provost of the dean of administration's salary *cough*). While legislatures (I would hope) should put more money into education, it would be nice if they made that money go towards actual education, and not more administrators.

(Can you tell I'm one of those educators?)

Posted by STJA on January 26, 2012 at 7:55 AM

This is why I have called for President Obama to reduce all Federal taxes to a maximum of 5% on people making less than $250,000.

This would allow more money to put into the community, city and state levels for things like education.

Why isn't SLOG pushing for reduced Federal tax for people making less than $250,000 ?

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on January 26, 2012 at 7:57 AM

@2, I have friends who teach at community colleges, and I don't doubt them when they complain about academic cuts in the face of bloated administrations. But in fact the stats show that WA's public college & university system has kept spending per student rather flat in recent years, while tuition has skyrocketed. We've simply been shifting the the cost from taxpayers to students.

Posted by Goldy on January 26, 2012 at 8:59 AM

Good call, Goldy! The Seattle Times are such hypocritical blowhards... We're much better than that!

Posted by Baldy on January 26, 2012 at 9:14 AM

The Atlantic's been running an excellent series on the impact of college sports on its athletes, students, and institutions. Turns out that football is a losing proposition for a great majority of "big-time" FBS schools. So schools give short shrift to academics to shore up languishing athletic departments, even the "profitable" ones.

Latest article here.

"The Real Crisis in College Sports: It's Wasted Money, Not Wasted Students"

Posted by laterite on January 26, 2012 at 10:07 AM

Goldy, it looks to me that Obama's remarks are neither "odd" or "misguided", but in agreement with your opinion on where the responsibility for solving the situation resides.

Posted by MrBaker

on January 26, 2012 at 10:41 AM

I do wonder if federal government student loans are skewing the economics. If students could get loans for skyrocketing tuitions, it might be curbing some of the $50k/yr for undergrad programs.

@6, wow. Schools losing millions on football programs should be front page news. If football coaches are the top paid state workers, their programs had better be bringing in millions for their schools. The UW should not be allowed to pay Sarkisian millions out of tuition and/or fix Husky Stadium when they could play at the Clink.

Posted by biffp on January 26, 2012 at 1:09 PM