With a growing state deficit, now estimated to be $5.2 billion in the 2011-2013 biennium, there are no good options and very painful choices will be made.  In these difficult economic times every area of the budget will be cut.  Many student aid programs have been suspended or significantly reduced so that the Governor and the legislature could focus priority funding on the primary student aid program for State Need Grant.  Independent Colleges of Washington has supported those decisions.

But the recently introduced House budget goes too far.  While the budget increases the maximum grant for State Need Grant for students at public colleges, it cuts the grant by 30% from current policy for students attending private non-profit colleges.

In addition, the bill suspends the State Work Study program. In addition to cutting opportunity and work experience for students, the elimination of work study funding will dramatically impact non-profit organizations and businesses across the state who rely on college students to help them carry out their mission.

We’ve written about budget considerations here and here.

Helping Washington residents attend an independent college is the state’s least expensive way to provide opportunity.  We are concerned that students and families will reconsider college if they see a 30% drop in their grant from current policy.  We need all the educated citizens in our state we can possibly prepare.

These cuts break the trust with students and shifts the longstanding policy of empowering student to choose the college that fits them best.  It will add pressure to the public colleges, meaning even fewer Washington residents will attend college, or attend college in state.

The Senate is poised to introduce its bill, and we hope it will restore funding for Washington residents attending private non-profit colleges.

We received a note today from the Higher Education Coordinating Board announcing that it has joined the blogosphere. HECBlog actually made its first post Dec. 1, and now they’re ready for a full roll-out with today’s synopsis of the work of the governor’s Higher Education Funding Task Force.

It is with some irony that this note arrived on the same day that word came out that the governor has proposed elimination of the HEC Board, part of a government streamlining plan that would lump all of “P-20″ education under a cabinet-level Department of Education, led by a secretary appointed by the governor. The new department would take over the responsibilities of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state Department of Early Learning, the HEC Board, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and a number of other agencies dealing with education. In addition to cost savings, the goal would be to better coordinate the state’s educational efforts at all levels and ensure progress toward a common goal. The new department secretary would be advised by a P-20 education council and a K-12 education ombudsman, both appointed by the governor.

The governor’s office issued a policy brief with details of the proposal, and SeattlePI.com has a story about it.

Eliminating the HEC Board isn’t a new idea. Three bills were introduced last year that would have done just that, though none of them received a hearing. With the state’s continuing budget woes, it is possible the idea will get more traction during the legislative session that begins Monday.

We wrote Wednesday about Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget for the 2011-13 biennium. We found it to be mostly good news. Independent Colleges of Washington is pleased with the governor’s solid support, in fact an increase, for the State Need Grant Program, but disappointed in cuts to State Work Study and suspension of many smaller financial aid programs. Overall, a good budget under difficult circumstances.

Sen. Lisa Brown

Now what? The Legislature ultimately writes the budget, and will take it up in earnest when they convene Jan. 10 for the 2011 session. Some call the governor’s budget a “rough draft” that will change significantly by the time a final vote is taken in late April.

The chit-chat has already begun. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown of Spokane blogged that, “the service cuts Gov. Gregoire has proposed are numerous, deep and are painful.

“Her list shows the enormity of our task, and I commend the Governor for her first step in tackling this latest hurdle we face as a state,” Brown continued. “Our challenge isn’t just a math problem. We must keep in mind that the education we provide to our young people represents their opportunity for their future.”

Rep. Reuven Carlyle

State Rep. Reuven Carlyle is probably the most prolific blogger in the Legislature. In his post about the budget he expressed some disappointment that the governor didn’t come up with any bold, structural proposals for funding higher education, and outlined some goals of his own.

“The Governor’s budget proposal–creative in some areas but unimaginative in others– simply continues the unrelenting 15 year trend of reducing state spending for higher education while shifting the burden of costs to students. This trend is on a march that we will regret for generations. The base proposal to increase tuition by 9, 10 and 11 percent at our various institutions is not the answer in that it fails to include a way to ensure that students are paying for more than the status quo. I would only support increased tuition as part of a plan to pay for outcomes instead of inputs.

“The plan to stand by the State Need Grant is a critical step in protecting student access, but eliminating Work Study and all of the smaller scholarship programs–including the Passport to College Promise Program for foster youth–is simply unacceptable. And I’ll work hard to find the money to restore those programs.”

We appreciate Carlyle’s commitment to financial aid, and believe that, especially when revenue is tight, it makes sense to focus those resources on the areas of greatest need.

George Bridges

George Bridges, president at Whitman College, has been opining often of late on the need to re-think the way public higher education is funded. The Seattle Times published an op-ed by Bridges Wednesday, a piece that was similar to one the Oregonian ran in Portland earlier this year. Bridges advocates for a system that charges tuition based on the cost of education, with significant investment in financial aid for low- and middle-income students. He also reiterates one of the primary goals of our association, and that is greater collaboration between private and public colleges in Washington.

“Whereas our institutions differ in focus and scope, together we provide thousands of Washingtonians with exceptional educational experiences each year. Any new paradigm for supporting higher education must draw fully upon the resources of every institution and reform must focus on how we can serve students better.

“We must commit to ensuring that they can attend the college or university — public or private — in which they are most likely to thrive intellectually and develop the capacities they will need to succeed in their professional and civic lives. Our state’s future depends upon it.”

We’re looking forward to the on-going discussion of the budget and higher education funding as we work to create opportunity, choice, and success for Washington college students.

Financial aid has been in the news the last couple of days, and the outcomes are, on the whole, positive.

Gov. Gregoire proposes increasing funding for the State Need Grant program by $91 million, while making cuts in most other state financial aid programs for college students.

We were most worried about what would happen to state financial aid programs, given that Washington was looking at a $4.6 billion shortfall for the next two years. But Gov. Chris Gregoire went public today with her proposed 2011-13 biennial budget, and suggested a $91 million increase in funding for the State Need Grant Program, the state’s bread-and-butter, need-based aid program for college students.

On the minus side, the governor’s budget cuts about $21 million out of the State Work Study Program, which means there will be about 2,800 fewer recipients. And it suspends most other smaller aid programs, such as WAVE and Washington Scholars. Current recipients of those will continue to receive grants, but no new awards will be made.

The governor has clearly recognized what we have been saying, that in times of limited resources it makes sense to focus on areas of greatest need. Certainly state financial aid helps some 70,000 students get the education they need to be part of the solution to our state’s economic problems instead of consumers of state services. It’s also a nod to reality; the governor’s budget also includes double-digit tuition hikes at public colleges and universities to help compensate for reductions in direct state support, and few low-income students could shoulder that without assistance.

Kudos to Gov. Gregoire. We think she made a good call on student aid.

We had worries on the federal level, too, as the Pell Grant program was facing a $5.7 billion deficit. But as the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities reported on its blog yesterday, a new U.S. Senate bill includes funding to cover that gap and keep Pell Grants at their current levels. It’s not reality yet, but there could be votes on that in the Senate by this weekend.

Here’s coverage of the governor’s proposed budget from the Seattle Times, the News Tribune, SeattlePI.com, the Olympian, and the Spokesman-Review. For budget junkies, the governor’s website has a news release about her budget and links to lots of other budget documents.

The Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board sent out a news release today outlining the effect the governor’s ordered 6.3 percent across-the-board budget reductions will have on financial aid programs for college students. The news is not good.

The board estimates that the reductions, a cut of nearly $7 million from the State Need Grant Program, will mean that an additional 3,000 students from lower-income families will not receive the assistance for which they’re eligible. That will bring to nearly 25,000 the number of students who qualify for a grant but cannot receive one because the funds ran out. It’s a tough situation for those students. They’ll have to work longer hours (often at the expense of their studies) or take on more loan debt, and many may simply drop out.

That would be a shame. We can’t really blame the governor or legislature. In fact, their commitment to financial aid programs during recent budget crises has been laudable. The budget pressures, however, are enormous. Analysts are projecting the budget shortfall for the 2011-13 biennium to approach $4.5 billion.

This would be a good time to shore up support for student aid programs, as work is already under way on next year’s budget. We urge you to write the governor and your legislators. Thank them for their commitment to student aid, and urge them to keep up the support. When the budget is tight, investment in financial aid makes sense. It focuses scares resources where they’re needed most. And financial aid works.

Help us create opportunity, choice, and success for students. Write today! We’ve made it easy at our Legislative Action Center. If you haven’t already, sign up to be an ICW Advocate and receive occasional email alerts about higher education policy issues and notice when your calls or emails can make a big difference.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire today sharpened her budget ax in the wake of yesterday’s news that state revenue collections were lower than expected over the last month, and the increasing likelihood that the official revenue forecast in September will bring more bad news.

Gov. Gregoire

The governor is asking state agency directors to be ready to cut their budgets by between four percent and seven percent, depending on how the September forecast looks, to get ready to make $500 million in strategic cuts in a supplemental budget very early during the 2011 legislative session, and to start thinking about how they would cut their budgets by up to 10 percent for the 2011-13 biennial budget the legislature will write next year.

To say that Washington budget news continues to be dismal is an understatement. Joy over recent news that Congress will come through with some anticipated money to help pay for teachers and Medicare was short-lived.

What this will mean for higher education and student financial aid programs is anybody’s guess at this point. Very little of the talk at the governor’s news conference today was about higher ed, save for some immediate cuts in a welfare-to-work program that will mean fewer job training opportunities for participants. The Higher Education Coordinating Board may well be asked to simply cut all aid programs by a certain amount. The more strategic thinking would come through work on the supplemental budget.

The governor did not share any specific advice she may have received from her committee on the transformation of the budget or from a special task force convened to re-think higher education funding, though she did use a specific example of the kind of question she wants to ask, with regard to the welfare-to-work program, and that is whether the private sector—churches, foundations, nonprofits—can shoulder some of the work now being done by the state.

Will the governor and legislature continue to support financial aid, given its clear, positive effect on students and their efforts to get an education and become strong contributors to Washington’s economic recovery?

It’s going to be another interesting year.

UPDATE: Friday morning the HEC Board sent out a note saying that student aid, specifically the State Need Grant program, will probably take cuts. “We don’t know the exact amount of the impact to State Need Grant but it will be in the millions,” said the note. This will be a big challenge for students returning to college in the fall expecting a grant. They may receive less, or possibly none at all.

For more information:

• TVW blog post from the governor’s news conference, with actual video below
• Article from The Olympian on the budget situation
• Governor’s news release on the steps she’s taking today

Catching up on reading after being out of the office at a workshop, I spotted this article published last week by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico invested $10.3 billion in student financial aid for 2008-09, an increase of about 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report from the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs. The increase was modest compared to one of about 6.6 percent the previous year, and the report cautioned that rocky budget times for the states threaten to eat into that in the future.

It’s funny how long it takes to gather this data and crunch the numbers. These 2008-09 figures are out as we’re about to embark on the 2010-11 academic year, and budgeteers in Washington state already are thinking hard about the 2011-13 biennial budget.

Washington scored as one of the top 10 states for providing need-based aid.

We’ve done incredibly well in helping low-income students pay for college. Since the 2003-05 biennium the state financial aid budget has grown by 62 percent, to $513.2 million—and that’s after a cut of about four percent earlier this year that came mainly out of State Work Study and other smaller aid programs. We have given larger grants to more students. Despite the legislature’s generosity, it hasn’t been enough. About 15,000 students who were eligible for a State Need Grant—because their families earn less, often way less, than $52,000—did not receive grants because the program ran out of cash. Independent colleges, too, have boosted their student aid budgets by 10 percent in each of the last two years, but there’s still unmet need.

The article is correct in warning about possible reductions in the future. Washington faces a projected $3 billion shortfall for next biennium, and may even have to make some budget cuts before the summer is out if anticipated federal dollars to help with Medicare fail to materialize. Student aid was on the cutting block last winter, and could well be again.

More resources

• Table on state aid programs
• National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs
• Full 2008-09 report

Higher education has been on the defensive for the last couple of state budgets, and recent economic projections suggest we may be in for another battle when the legislature convenes in 2011—or sooner.

We hope the legislature is able to find a pot of gold to support funding for financial aid programs. That makes it possible for students to find the real treasure at the end of the rainbow: a great education. Photo: Whitman College.

Governor Gregoire’s office is now projecting a $3 billion budget deficit for the 2011-13 biennium, based on an updated revenue forecast issued yesterday. That forecast came in about $200 million less than expected, despite tax increases enacted to help patch a $2.8 billion shortfall this year.

The state has enough in reserve to limp through the rest of the current budget, unless Congress doesn’t come through with some help with Medicaid that budget writers were counting on but that appears increasingly in doubt. If the federal dollars don’t come through, the legislature would have to convene for another special session to make more cuts, or the governor could impose across-the-board reductions.

State economist Arun Raha is a pretty good comedian, and always delivers his almost-always-bad news with a dose of humor. “The good news is, things are getting worse slower,” he said yesterday, according to The Olympian.

Those interested in protecting funding for Washington student aid programs can help out by signing up to become an Independent Colleges of Washington Advocate today! Through this service, we’ll keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in Olympia, and let you know when an email, letter, or call to your legislature would be most effective in making the case for student aid. Over the last couple of years ICW Advocates have used the system to send more than 5,000 messages to the governor and legislators, and that’s a big part of the reason we’ve been able to largely protect financial aid funding despite the budget shortfalls.

Won’t you join us today? It takes just minutes, the messages are occasional, and the system makes it easy for you to make your voice heard. Help us provide choice, opportunity, and success for Washington students!

The Washington State Capitol. Greg Scheiderer photo.

When the Washington State Legislature passed a budget and adjourned a “week-long” special session on its 30th day April 13, the expenditure side of the ledger looked much as it did when the regular session ended a month before. The solution to a $2.8 billion budget gap included:

• $755 million in spending reductions, including a $73 million cut to public higher education institutions
• $618 million in expected federal funding assistance
• $690 million in fund transfers, including a dip into the state’s “rainy day” fund
• $757 in new revenue, including increased taxes on beer, soda, bottled water, cigarettes, and in B&O taxes on some services

Given the magnitude of cuts to higher education, we’re pleased that reductions to student aid were relatively minor. The bread and butter program, the State Need Grant, was funded fully as originally budgeted last year. The students with greatest need will actually see their grants increase next year, to $7,717 for the academic year. Students from families earning up to 70 percent of the state median family income, about $54,500 for a family of four, will be eligible to receive some aid under the State Need Grant.

Our biggest disappointment with the budget is a 30 percent reduction in the State Work Study program, achieved by freezing award amounts, asking employers to pay a greater share of the wage, and cutting nonresident students from the program “to the maximum extent practicable.” The budget also scales back on other aid programs such as Washington Scholars and WAVE. Current recipients of both will continue to receive that aid, but fewer new awards will be made. It’s not quite official as of this writing. The governor has not yet signed the budget, but we expect she will.

Thanks to all of those who helped protect student aid. ICW Advocates have sent almost 2,000 messages to the governor and legislators through our Legislative Action Center since December, when the governor proposed a budget that included disastrous cuts to student aid.  Now would be a good time to visit the center and write a thank-you note to lawmakers who recognized the value and importance of student aid. Thanks, too, to Student Workers Solidarity which coordinated a successful effort to put aid recipients in contact with legislators. Great work!

Perhaps our Save Student Aid.org buttons were the difference!

Keep an eye on this blog and on SaveStudentAid.org for updated information on financial aid issues. Analysts are already predicting budget shortfalls for the next biennium, so there may once again be pressure to cut student aid when the legislature returns in January to start writing the next budget.

Budget and policy wonks can find lots of detailed budget information on the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee website, including the complete bill text and a summary. There’s also a good session wrap-up summary on the Higher Education Coordinating Board website.

John Milton wrote that “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

Gov. Gregoire

Today was day 11 of the special session of the Washington State Legislature, and it’s been more than a month now since both the Washington State House and the State Senate first rolled out their supplemental budget proposals. The Senate passed its budget Feb. 27. The House passed its budget March 5. They couldn’t agree on how to pay for their budgets, though, and couldn’t finish by the end of the regular session March 11. The special session began the following Monday, and the Senate passed its budget again.

That’s where it stands, and we wait.

While there are some major differences between the two budgets, they don’t seem insurmountable. The budgets for financial aid, in particular, are pretty close, as you can see by the comparisons on our SaveStudentAid.org site. After making some significant cuts, we also know that both the House and Senate are looking to raise about the same amount in additional revenue: $800 million.

The sticking point seems to be a temporary increase in the state sales tax. The Senate passed an increase of 0.3 percent during the regular session, and passed a new revenue package with a temporary 0.2% increase in the sales tax last Friday. Leaders in the House, however, have maintained that they cannot drum up the support for a sales tax hike.

The governor weighed in yesterday, warning that she might have to make across-the-board cuts of 20 percent if the impasse isn’t broken soon.

Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point. A 20 percent cut in financial aid programs would likely make college impossible for thousands of students who rely on that assistance. Take it from the students in our video below.

Editor,

During even the best of economic times, good and important causes compete for limited resources. In what are arguably the worst circumstances the state has faced for generations, the Governor and the Legislature are faced with impossible choices. We are therefore grateful for and support the Governor’s revised budget request, which restores funding for the State Need Grant for low-income college students.

This revision recognizes the essential role higher education plays in equipping the next generation of educated citizens to revitalize Washington’s economy. State Need Grants open the door for students to attend Washington’s great public and independent institutions. Gonzaga and Whitworth receive no direct funds from the state; many students who attend our schools are able to do so because State Need Grants – in combination with our own financial assistance – make college affordable, ease the burden on taxpayers, and create additional capacity for enrollments at public institutions. Over 73,000 students statewide benefit from the State Need Grant program.

We urge the legislature to restore funding for the State Work Study program as well. Students earn financial aid and gain valuable work experience; employers throughout the state and city, particularly those in key social and service agencies, are able to serve clients at organizations such as the YWCA, Spokane Mental Health, and the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery.

In tough economic times, investment in aid to students is one of the smartest, and most strategic, investments we can make to create a brighter future for Spokane and the state.

Bill Robinson
President, Whitworth University

Thayne McCulloh
President, Gonzaga University

Submitted February 26, 2010

The State of Washington faces a shortfall of an estimated $2.6 billion in in its biennial budget that runs through next June. Governor Chris Gregoire will let us know tomorrow what she intends to do about it. There’s rampant speculation that higher education will again be a target for cuts, as a major pot of “discretionary” spending that isn’t constitutionally protected.

Three of the state’s higher education leaders have joined hands—or pens at least—to say that further cuts to higher education would be a big mistake. Ron Thomas, president of University of Puget Sound and chair of the board for Independent Colleges of Washington; Rodolfo Arévalo, president of Eastern Washington University and chair of the Council of Presidents; and Charlie Earl, executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, share authorship of an op-ed column published in today’s Seattle Times urging support for college students and higher education.

Given the demonstrable benefits of higher education both to individuals and society, it’s almost inconceivable that the state’s students and colleges often end up taking the brunt of budget cuts rather than being a top priority for state support.

ICW is particularly concerned about cuts to or even possible elimination of the State Need Grant program, which helps more than 70,000 students of modest means attend the college, public or private, that best meets their academic goals and needs. It’s critical in creating educational opportunities to those students. Protecting financial aid for students is our top legislative priority.

Sign up as an ICW Advocate today at our Legislative Action Center to get important alerts and learn how to help us protect state aid for students who need help paying for college.

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Governor Chris Gregoire signed the 2009-11 state budget yesterday, along with a passel of other bills, bringing the work of the 2009 legislature to a close. 

We’ve already covered the highlights of the session from the perspective of Independent Colleges of Washington, most notably a $52 million increase in student aid funding in the face of a budget for which the operative word was “cut.” Keep your fingers crossed the the economy stabilizes and state revenue collection rebounds enough that a special session to re-visit the budget won’t be needed this fall.

The governor vetoed a number of provisions, but no major ones related to higher education. Policy wonks among our readership can check her veto message. The final version of the budget should be posted soon here, under the title of “session law.”

We won’t embed it here, but if you wish to see the bill signing ceremony and the governor’s Q&A with the media afterward, you can go watch the coverage from TVW.

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.

Students attending independent colleges will receive larger State Need Grants, nonresident students remain eligible for State Work Study positions, and colleges will have some welcome added flexibility in management of their endowments thanks to legislation enacted during the just-completed legislative session.

Need Grant. The new biennial budget increases funding for financial aid by about $52 million dollars. Independent Colleges of Washington successfully turned back a proposal to freeze the State Need Grant for students attending private colleges. Instead, the base grant for students at member institutions will be the same as that received by students attending public research universities. The Higher Education Coordinating Board will make the official calculations, but it’s likely to be in the neighborhood of $6,800 next year, an increase of about $600 for students at independent colleges.

Your efforts were a big help in this favorable budget outcome. If you haven’t already, please make one last visit to ICW’s Legislative Action Center and click on the alert to thank legislators for treating students at independent colleges fairly.

Work Study. ICW also turned back an effort to make nonresident students ineligible for the State Work Study program. Students from other states have been eligible for the program since it began in the mid-’70s, modeled after the federal program. Offering work study positions can help colleges attract and keep great students from other states, and will help ensure strong programs at colleges that bring in significant numbers of students from elsewhere. A measure tweaking work study provisions, SSB 5044, has already been signed by the governor. It limits work study expenditures for nonresidents to 15 percent of the total appropriated — about the proportion they receive now.

UPMIFA. The legislature gave final approval to the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (SHB 1119) on the last weekend of the session. The measure will give institutions some added flexibility in the management of their endowments. Amendments made to the bill during the final week of the session give institutions the option of adopting the new rules this year or next, whichever their boards decide is best. The measure is on the governor’s desk, and she has until mid-May to take action.

You may be reading that a special session of the legislature is likely, as several key pieces of legislation were still pending when the clock struck midnight Sunday and the regular session adjourned. Most notable among these is a bill regarding levy equalization for public school districts. If there is a special session, neither budget matters nor higher education policy are likely to be on the agenda. Our work is probably finished for this year.