Ellington

Student lobbyists left for Olympia on Friday to fight for higher education, and this year they had a different approach in mind.

At ASUW’s annual Huskies on the Hill Lobby Day, instead of saying, “Don’t cut our budget,” students brought proposals that specifically directed funds to higher education, said Maxine Sugarman, ASUW Office of Government Relations (OGR) legislative programming director.

In groups of four to five students, 49 teams met with legislators to express their concerns with budget cuts, endorse house bills directed toward funding higher education, and tell personal stories about how cuts have affected their lives.

“We have a lot of proposals on the table that, if passed, would make a significant impact on the future of higher education in the state of Washington,” OGR director Andrew Lewis said.

Proposing alternatives

Evan Smith, ASUW director of university affairs, said he wanted to focus on putting forth House Bill 2532, which would lower the research and development business and occupation tax credit threshold from $2 million to $0.4 million and eliminate the credit for businesses with a gross income of $25 million or higher, according to the ASUW.

“We’re supportive of those creative ideas of trying to loosen up some money for higher ed,” Smith said to Rep. Larry Seaquist.

Seaquist said the bill doesn’t solve the basic funding issues and questioned what the voters will actually approve.

“Right now, the Washington public, according to the polls, is not interested in spending more money on higher ed,” Seaquist said. “So I’m turning to the students, asking you to go out there and move the legislature to go ask the public, and then help us ask the public.”

Seaquist wasn’t alone in thinking the bill would be difficult to approve.

“Anything that takes money is going to be difficult,” Rep. Phyllis Kenney said. “But we’re looking at them. There’s some we don’t like and some we do.”

Talking tuition

Lower tuition is the best financial aid, Coleton Foruria, a senior majoring in business, told Sen. Andy Hill when his group met with him.

“Even if you lower tuition, you still have people who can’t afford it,” Hill said. “That’s what the state need grant is for.”

Hill said, “in a perfect world,” schools would have a high tuition and high financial aid model. He said many students can afford to pay more, but don’t have to when tuition stays low.

ASUW Student Senate Chair Michelle Nance said the students were concerned about squeezing out the middle class.

“The lower class is getting squeezed, but they have the state need grant,” Hill said. “The middle class … Jeez. It’s breaking their backs.”

Hill said higher education is in “constant battle” for dollars, as other special interest groups are more able to secure funding. There’s been a lack of leadership in the Legislature concerning higher education, he said.

“I’m a freshman and they made me the ranking member on higher ed,” Hill said. “That shows you the priority they put it at.”

Although ASUW has not taken an official stance on the issue, students spoke with legislators about differential tuition, which would charge higher tuition for majors that cost the university more. Students said it was something they were concerned about.

“We want to make sure there’s legislative oversight,” said Rutger Ceballos, a junior majoring in political science and international studies, “and it’s being used in a way that respects the rights of students to [study] anything they want.”

Hill said he thought differential tuition is a way to combat the higher-education funding shortfall, as it costs less to produce a history degree than a computer science degree. He added taking debt on engineering or computer science degrees is “great debt” because it can be paid back quickly.

“Those are high-demand, high-paying jobs,” Hill said. “If you want to deal with the funding shortfall, one way to do it is charge the people what they can afford. Differential tuition does charge people what they can afford if you’re looking forward.”

Nance said differential tuition might discourage students from majoring in engineering if they weren’t going to have a career in that field, and Hill said that wouldn’t be a good argument for legislators because higher education is about what it does for the state.

“One of the reasons we have universities is to contribute to the workforce,” he said.

Hearing from legislators

When asked about the potential institution of a public comment period at all Board of Regents meetings, many state representatives were supportive of the idea, including Kenney and Rep. Ann Rivers.

“Absolutely,” Kenney said when asked whether the public comment period was a good idea. “You know, the other colleges and universities allow that to happen, but the two research universities are [more difficult].”

Kenney then brought attention to the diversity of the regents. She said they have never had a Hispanic regent and currently don’t have anyone from the middle class. Kenney said she has brought this up to the governor and is not afraid to speak out.

“It’s all rich people,” Kenney said. “That’s not right. If you’re going to have representation, let’s have it.”

Another new aspect of the lobby day was a time set at the end of the day to listen to legislators and have a question-and-answer session.

Legislators urged students to communicate the importance of funding higher education to their fellow voters.

“Let everyone know that we need some fundamental change this year,” Rep. Derek Stanford said. “Without that we will move more and more toward a tiered society, where some people will be able get an education, and others won’t be able to afford it.”

Reach reporter Joon Yi and News Editor Sarah Schweppe at news@dailyuw.com.