Ann Daley, executive director of the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, was a guest on TVW’s “Inside Olympia” program last night to talk about budget cuts in higher education. Amid the gloom and doom reports, Daley was able to talk about one major positive that came out of this year’s legislative session.
There’s very little that I would call good news in this budget, but the legislature has historically, and again this year even in these difficult times, continued a commitment to funding our State Need Grant Program.
We agree that Need Grant funding was the session’s apex, and are often frustrated that media coverage of higher education budgeting and policy almost always includes prominent discussion of the tuition changes and usually ignores the financial aid side of the equation. The legislature has been unwavering in its support for student aid and has significantly increased that investment in the last five years. So props to Daley for getting it in there.
Daley and host Austin Jenkins talked some about re-thinking higher education finance, too. You can see the segment of the program featuring Daley below, watch the entire show on the TVW Web site, and see a quick summary on the TVW blog.
