OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state was on pace to accrue a budget deficit of approximately $6 billion by 2011 prior to major funding cuts in Gov. Chris Gregoire’s 2009-2011 biennial budget proposal released Dec. 18. The governor’s budget suggests reductions in spending for many of the state’s programs, including funding cuts for higher education.

“You can’t help but notice this big looming budget [deficit] over our heads.” said Rep. Richard DeBolt (R-20th District) at a Jan. 6 legislative forum.

To help stabilize the budget, the governor proposed a 13 percent state funding cut for public, four-year colleges and universities and a 6 percent reduction in state funding for technical and community colleges. The combined state savings from the two cuts represent an estimated $343.9 million dollars, according to the 2009-2011 biennial operating budget overview submitted by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

The governor’s budget proposal also includes a 7 percent tuition increase for undergraduates at public, four-year colleges, the maximum amount allowed by Washington law according to RCW 28B.15.068. This would cost UW undergraduates an average of $453 per year.

A 7 percent increase in public, four-year college and university tuition combined with a proposed 5 percent tuition raises for community and technical colleges would increase the state’s budget by an estimated $163 million.

Giving universities increased tuition-setting authority so they could offer financial aid to students higher into the middle-income level was a suggestion to help ease the financial burden of tuition, offered by Sen. Joe Zarelli (R-18th District) during a Jan. 6 budget panel discussion.

However, Zarelli said the Legislature had not officially discussed such an idea.

“It’s a willingness to talk about the whole structure of how we do things,” Zarelli said. “Historically we have all agreed that just low tuition was the way to go. Well, you need to know that there are folks that are getting an easier ride in that big picture.”

Although the UW is expecting an increase in the number of qualified applicants, the governor proposes that the number of students enrolled in the UW and its branch campuses, 38,526, remain the same over the course of the 2009-2011 biennium. This would make the UW a more exclusive school.

Last year, the UW received a record-breaking 20,000 applications and sent an unprecedented number of rejection letters, nearly 8,000. Because similarly high rates of application are expected in the 2009-2011 biennium, a greater number of freshmen hopefuls can expect to be rejected from the university if it doesn’t increase capacity.

“... certainly higher education helps build our economy of the future,” said Sen. Karen Fraser (D-22nd District). “So I think we need to ask our higher education institutes for their ideas and creativity,”

Although the governor proposed many funding cuts for the UW, she suggests an increase in the level of funding for several of the UW’s building projects. The governor suggested a raise in operations and maintenance support from its current rate of $6.10 per square foot to $9 per square foot. Clark Hall, Savery Hall, the Magnuson Health Sciences Center H-wing, the Playhouse Theater and the UW Tacoma’s Assembly Hall would receive additional funding through this raise.

Because Washington state relies heavily on retail sales tax as a source of revenue, the state is quickly affected by recessions. Retail sales tax accounted for $15.8 billion of the state’s proposed revenue in the 2009-2011 biennium. This number is more than double the state’s next highest source of income: business and occupation tax ($6.6 billion).

Although the budget loses money quickly during a recession, it also quickly regains revenue when the economy does well, according to Fraser.

Reach reporter Kaitlin Strohschein at news@dailyuw.com.