State Sen. Ken Jacobsen, a strong advocate for higher education, announced he will not seek re-election this fall. He will have served 28 years in the Washington State Legislature.
Independent Colleges of Washington will lose one of our most stalwart legislative friends next year. State Sen. Ken Jacobsen of Seattle has announced that he will not seek re-election this fall, citing high blood pressure that landed him in the hospital for a brief stay in October. (We wonder if hypertension might be an occupational hazard of lawmaking.)
When his term runs out in January Jacobsen will have served in the legislature for 28 years. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, and then to the Senate in 1998. For most of those years he served on, and often chaired, the higher education committee. A strong advocate for higher education, Jacobsen received ICW’s highest honor, the Stanley O. McNaughton Leadership Award, in 2001. The award recognizes companies, legislators and leaders that have demonstrated passion for and commitment to Washington’s independent colleges and universities.
Jacobsen has long pushed for a higher education finance model used by most independent colleges: market-driven tuition pricing coupled with generous financial aid for qualified students to help them cover the cost. He continues that push as he departs, saying in a post by Joel Connelly on seattlepi.com yesterday:
“I am, and always will be, a high tuition-high financial aid guy. We should give the university the authority to set tuition as high as it wants. The state should move big time into financial aid… We have been sacrificing up the university on the altar of low tuition.”
We agree with Jake. The model works; private colleges serve low-income students in about the same proportions as do public colleges at which the sticker price is far lower. Financial aid levels the playing field for these students.
Jacobsen is the fifth member of the senate to announce plans to depart that august body this year, joining Republican Dale Brandland and fellow Democrats Rosa Franklin, Joe McDermott, and Darlene Fairley.
We wish Ken Jacobsen good health and happy birdwatching as he moves into new adventures.
More media thoughts on Jacobsen’s departure:
- Josh Feit, Publicola
- Peter Callaghan, The News Tribune
- Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times
- The Spokesman-Review
