Colleges in Washington worried Legislature will back Ferguson’s plan for cuts

Colleges and universities across Washington are bracing for cuts Gov. Bob Ferguson proposed in his budget plan to the Legislature.

Ferguson suggested cuts of 3% for University of Washington and Washington State University, and 1.5% for regional universities and community colleges, including Eastern Washington University. The reduction would save the government an estimated $50 million.

The 1.5% cut would cost around $1.7 million at EWU, should the cuts come to fruition, according to David Buri, who runs government relations for the school. That includes a $300,000 cut in administrative expenses.

“That’s a concern,” Buri said. “It’s a supplemental budget, and so we understand that the governor’s just trying to make tweaks to the underlying budget. But we did take cuts in last year’s budget.”

At WSU the cuts would be $11.6 million which includes $1.4 million in administrative trims.

At UW the budget cuts would amount to $19.3 million, including $3.5 million less in administrative spending.

Lawmakers last year cut the two-year budget for all public universities in the state by 1.5%. That translated to $9.9 million for WSU and $2.8 million at EWU.

“We’re hopeful that the students haven’t felt too big of an effect from those cuts,” Buri said. “We’re getting down to the bone now, so it makes it more and more difficult to make sure that we have the classes offered when they need to.”

State Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, agrees with the governor’s cuts, saying it is best for the government to focus on patching the deficit and critical services.

“We need to first overall scrub the budget and look for ways that we can find efficiencies. We can do program evaluations, et cetera. Then we need to focus on essential services. And what I’ve heard is putting money into things like health care, a lot of the basic needs for folks,” he said. “We have to look at the budget holistically and we have to look at what we can fund.”

Republicans in both the House and Senate agree budget cuts are the right direction for balancing the budget.

“We’ve got to right-size our budgets and that includes state-operated institutions,” said House Deputy Minority Leader Chris Corry, R-Yakima. “It’s a call for all of us to tighten our belts and make some choices, tough choices.

Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, agrees with the governor, but says budget cuts should not mean tuition increases.

“I don’t think there’s any question that we need some reform in higher ed,” Braun said. “I am concerned about putting that on the backs of students. I’m vehemently opposed to any effort to increase tuition.”

Tuition has been driven up at public universities across the Inland Northwest, including at WSU, where the board of regents recently approved a 3.3% tuition increase for the 2026-27 school year. It was the university’s 10th consecutive tuition hike.

Higher education in Washington has been facing other pitfalls as well. Most significantly, a lag in enrollment is affecting colleges and universities statewide, with the exception of UW. The state’s largest school continues to attract students reaching its highest enrollment last fall.

“People are recognizing that what they’re getting for their money isn’t worth it, and they’re making other choices,” Braun said. “Higher education should take that as a calling to look inward and figure out how to deliver a better product in the future.”