By
Katie Burke
February 3, 2010
Camilo Moreno-Salamanca is one of more than 7,000 students on the Husky Promise program who attends the UW on a full scholarship.
Photo by Patrick Riley.
UW President Mark Emmert (center) prepares to deliver a statement about the upcoming state budget cuts affecting the UW. The town hall style meeting gave students the opportunity to voice their opinions and ask questions.
At Tuesday’s Town Hall Meeting on Budget Cuts and Financial Aid, sophomore Moreno-Salamanca wondered how a cut to the program could maintain the UW’s diversity standards and accessibility.
With the standing of the Husky Promise and grants from the UW uncertain, the issue of diversity on campus is becoming increasingly worrisome to minority and low-income students.
“The Husky Promise is in danger, and the students are the most directly affected by it. Students like me have to go down to Olympia and make sure we deliver our stories compellingly and understand that diversity is essential to the economic sustainability of our state,” Moreno-Salamanca said.
The town hall meeting allowed students, faculty and anyone with questions and concerns to ask panelists about the budget cuts, tuition hikes, and the Husky Promise. Panelists included figures such as President Mark Emmert, and many questions were answered with uncertain responses.
“I don’t know the answer to a lot of these questions,” financial aid officer Kay Lewis said. “In Olympia, they need to make decisions before we have a clear idea of where we stand.”
With tuition at the UW shifting from a state responsibility to one placed on families, students are worried about the effects financial aid cuts will have on socioeconomic and other diversity.
The availability of loans and grants for students on campus has been called into question since cuts to financial aid were proposed, and some believe this may impact the variety of students that apply to the university. Lewis promised a continuing commitment to low-income students, but is unsure about the source of the funding.
“I am deeply concerned with the budget cuts and what is going on right now with financial aid, because a large part of my job is providing access to those students who might not otherwise have it,” said Sheila Edwards Lange, vice provost of Diversity and vice president of Minority Affairs. “Once those students get it, we are providing them with support and services to enhance their success here. Budget cuts means less resources to do so.”
Emmert, who created the Husky Promise program, said that he is fighting hard in Olympia to keep the program funded and available.
Students will be heading down to Olympia to lobby for the university this Friday with hopes of obtaining more concrete information and fighting for more state funding.
“They cut away everything they could. We need to fight for something that works for the students. We need to ensure that the legislators know that the financial aid system needs to be supported. We need money in the form of state grants,” said Jono Hanks, a panelist and ASUW director of the Office of Government Relations. “7,000 students on campus wouldn’t be able to attend the University of Washington without them.”
Reach contributing writer Katie Burke at development@dailyuw.com.
12 Comments
#1 Matt from Democracy Insurgent
on February 2, 2010 at 11:52 p.m.(Renton, WA | Unverified Name)
To make sure that Olympia hears us we need to do more than hold town hall meetings and we need to do more than protest. That's why the UW Student-Worker Coalition has called a 1 hour student strike on March 4th, the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. We will be fighting to stop cuts to financial aid and to stop tuition hikes. We need to make sure this campus is acessible to students of color and working class students.
If Mark Emmert and the Board of Regents really want to fight Olympia's cuts then they should join us and help us shut down the campus for a day to send a message to Olympia : there will be no business as usual if they try to take away our access to education. Emmert, why don't you send a memo to all students at staff at UW encouraging them to walk out on March 4th in solidarity with students in California and across the country? Make it clear that there will be no retaliation against anyone who walks out of work or class to protest.
If you do that then together we might actually be able to stop them from cutting the Husky Promise.
#2 Ariel W.
on February 2, 2010 at 11:58 p.m.(Seattle, WA | UW Community)
I wasn't able to make this event because I was in class at the time... about how many folks attended?
#3 Sarah H.
on February 3, 2010 at 12:16 a.m.(UW Campus | UW Community)
I attended and there really were not as many people as I expected. Around 100 I suppose...
#4 Shane
on February 3, 2010 at 12:53 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
Why are there 7000 students in this program? I'm very thankful that the program exists but why aren't these students sharing the burden of student loans. My family has been penalized for valuing my education and saving for it while sacrificing many things along the way. If my parents hadn't saved anything I would be getting a lot more money from financial aid.
There is no doubt that some students need help with college expenses like myself, but why do they not have to take out student loans?
#5 Matt from Democracy Insurgent
on February 3, 2010 at 1:10 p.m.(Auburn, WA | Unverified Name)
Sorry what I meant to say is that we need to fight ALL cuts to need based aid, not just defend the Husky Promise.
Shane, you're falling for the administration and legislature's divide and conquer tactics. Why do we need to pit the goal of lowering tuition agianst the goal of raising financial aid? Why can't we demand that tuition be lowered AND aid be raised? That's what the UW Student Worker Coalition is demanding. Basically, we are arguing that the "high tuition high financial aid model" that Emmert is pushing pits different layers of the working class agianst each other to compete with each other for who will be able to get aid to go to UW once it is turned into an elite private school. In other words, folks like yourself will get squeezed out of UW cuz of the tuition hikes no matter how hard your family has sacrified. So will most students on the Husky Promise. Need based grants will allow "token" poor and lower-working class students to come to UW but they will then be entering a hostile environment where most of their peers will be bourgie as hell since folks from their neighborhoods AND folks like you will both be pushed out.
Don't fall for it Shane... instead of attacking Husky Promise students for getting grants, why don't you fight with us to make sure you can get a grant too - or even better why don't you fight with us to make sure that neither you nor students on Husky Promise will even NEED financial aid at all becuase tuition will be low enough for EVERYONE to attend?
Listen closely to our the chants we do at our rallies: "No cuts, not fees, education must be free" and "Mark Emmert gets a fancy home, while we get subprime student loans?!"
#6 Kuzma
on February 3, 2010 at 2:56 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
I'm in the same situation as Shane. I have to pay for my own tuition because I'm not eligible for federal grants, only loans. In addition, I'm not getting any parental assistance whatsoever. So, why is it that 7000 students get a free ride while I bust my hump trying to pay for my education?
Seriously, get rid of the Husky Promise and use the money saved to reduce tuition for everyone. This would amount to a 20% reduction in tuition for every student at UW.
#7 Shane
on February 3, 2010 at 6:38 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
I'm not falling for anything. I have no regrets about taking out student loans. I'm 100% for people pulling their own weight and not getting free handouts from the state. What I would argue for is those students on the Husky Promise should be given less and forced to take out loans. The money that the UW would save could then go towards improving our education.
#8 Husky Promise Student
on February 3, 2010 at 10:34 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
The fact that you are wishing people off the Husky Promise because you have to pay, the way you pose it at least, has a "woe is me" tone. That is not constructive at all. You know what? It does suck that because of good financial planning by your family you have to pay some of your costs through student loans. But is taking off the Husky Promise really going to solve your problems?
Would it not be more efficient and beneficial to advocate for different standards measuring your family's income (i.e. How much is really cash flow, and how much are assets that you cannot easily convert into money like houses or lands)
I'm a Husky Promise student and without it I couldn't go to college. I plan to make the best man out of myself and help my community with philantrophic efforts in the future. Had it not been for the Husky Promise, there is no little chance for anyone of my income level to have an opportunity.
Now you might say "yea but you can work 40 hours and pay your way through school and get loans just like us" But you also have to consider that a lot of the students under Husky Promise also have a commitment to providing for their family and taking care of them. Putting them under immense amounts of debt, all while they try to balance being heads of their family and working really cuts down the opportunities for a lot of these people.
I've seen people that can't go to school because they can't pay for it and have to watch for their family. Do you really want to take their opportunity away?
Your approach to this problem is at problem solving, while I suggest you look for a more proactive a fundamental solution, without the need to verge on radicalism or in raging, superficial activism.
#9 Kuzma
on February 4, 2010 at 11:28 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
You don't get it, I have to pay ALL the costs from my own pocket without any government or parental help while you get a free ride.
I say just offer loans for everyone. And please don't generalize about Husky Promise recipients. A lot of other students also have family responsibilities.
#10 Question
on February 6, 2010 at 12:36 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name | UW Community)
Kuzma, do you pay in-state tuition?
#11 Your Conscience
on February 8, 2010 at 8:38 p.m.(Everett, WA | Unverified Name | UW Community)
Kuzma, once again, you show yourself as the antithesis of the oft-quoted aphorism, "before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes."
The experience of one student (i.e., you) is not adequate or quality policy for students across the state. Get your head out of your ass.
#12 Kuzma
on February 9, 2010 at 9:01 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name | UW Community)
To #11, Fuck you!
It's the policy for students at UW not at the state level. I haven't heard one good argument as to why some students get a free ride while others have to take out loans and work 30 hours a week.
Husky Promise students can take out loans just like the rest of us and pay them off after they graduate, just like the rest of us.
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