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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Opinion

College too costly for many students

The Spokesman-Review

A national snapshot of higher education provides good news for Washington state. Over the past decade, the state has improved in preparing students for college, and colleges have done a good job in retaining students and seeing that they get a degree. But the state has joined most others in flunking affordability.

The recently released report by the nonpartisan National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education shows that society understands the importance of education to the economic well-being of the nation and that it is working hard on improving K-12 education. But there is a disconnect when it comes to keeping college accessible to meritorious students from all walks of life.

In Washington state, the high cost of college has resulted in a decline in the proportion of young adults enrolled in higher education, especially among those in low-income families. Considering that college is the best pathway to prosperity, that trend is disappointing.

The study looked at the net costs (tuition, room, board) and factored in financial aid and flunked three-quarters of all states when it comes to affordability. The decadelong trend is to put more of a burden on individuals to pay for college.

That’s no secret in Washington. The cost of educating college students comes from two sources: the state and tuition. In 1993, tuition’s share was 33 percent at Washington State University and the University of Washington. It is projected to be 51 percent in 2005. Similar increases have been felt by the other public universities and community and technical colleges.

The study commends the state for increasing its need-based financial aid over the past decade, but it notes that the state still lags far behind the top performers in that area.

As we said, the news isn’t all bad. The state is among the top performers in providing the kind of knowledge-based jobs college graduates need in the new economy. The state also scores high on the proportion of college graduates, though many got their degrees in other states. That fact should reinforce efforts at public universities to be more responsive to the needs of employers, who shouldn’t have to shop out of state for workers.

States alone cannot close the enrollment gap between low-income students and the rest. Most need-based financial aid comes from the federal government, which has failed to maintain funding levels. The effectiveness of the Pell Grant program is eroding. Thirty years ago, the maximum grant covered 84 percent of the cost of a four-year education, according to the Gannett News Service. Now, it covers 40 percent. On top of that, the program is nearly $4 billion in debt.

This nation has embarked on a long process of improving K-12 education as we try to remain competitive in a global economy. We are turning out young adults who are better prepared to attend college. But unless we can make college more affordable, those efforts will be undermined.