Category Archives: Uncategorized

Week Begins with Early Morning Before Capital Committee

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This morning Evergreen testified in support of the House’s proposed biennial capital budget.

The House’s capital budget provides funding for several projects across higher education. This includes funding for three projects at Evergreen – Lecture Hall Renovation Construction, Lab I Basement Construction funding, and Seminar I Renovation Predesign.  The budget also provides authorization to purchase the Tacoma Campus property.

In addition the budget includes funds to support facilities preservation, minor works, and preventative facility maintenance and building system repairs.

Overall the budget supports Evergreen’s focus and commitment to responsible stewardship of our public facilities and infrastructure to meet current technological needs and demands, and to provide the needed facilities and infrastructure to provide a quality educational experience for students.

The House Capital Budget committee will take executive action on the budget tomorrow morning in Committee.

House Proposes Capital Budget

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On Friday, the Washington House released a proposed biennial capital budget for higher education. The House’s capital budget provides funding for several projects across higher education. This includes funding for three projects at Evergreen – Lecture Hall Renovation Construction, Lab I Basement Construction funding, and Seminar I Renovation Predesign.  The budget also provides authorization to purchase the Tacoma Campus property.

In addition the budget includes funds to support facilities preservation, minor works, and preventative facility maintenance and building system repairs.

Next Steps

The House Capital Budget Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed capital budget on Monday, March 30 with action scheduled to move the budget to the House floor on Tuesday morning.

House Releases Operating Budget

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Yesterday morning the Washington House released a proposed 2015-17 biennial operating budget.  The budget provides $2.4 billion in policy increases, responds to the $2.4 billion maintenance level shortfall and provides a $341 million ending funding balance.

The budget includes policy increases for increased costs of K-12 health benefits and a COLA ($356 million), enhancements to basic education ($661 million), funding for mental health, ($103 million), and funding for early learning and child care programs ($222 million).

For higher education the budget provides $257 million for financial aid and a tuition freeze and $253 million for state and higher education employee compensation and benefits.

To offset the $5.1 billion in policy increases, maintenance level funding costs, and the ending fund balance, the House proposes $2.6 billion in policy level reductions – the largest of which is modification of I-1351 ($2 billion) – revenue increases of $1.5 billion and additional moneys through fund transfers and reversions.

 Higher Education

The House’s proposed budget freezes tuition at current rates over the next biennium.  The budget provides dollars to offset the tuition freeze, providing funds to increase compensation and inflationary costs at institutions.

In addition the House increases funding for the State Need Grant by $53 million. The funds are
expected to serve approximately 24 percent of the currently 34,500 unserved students as well as increase private award amounts by 3.5% per year beginning in FY 2017. The budget also provides $60 million to provide the state’s match for the Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program. The budget also suspends the Washington Scholars Program, Washington Award for Vocational Excellence, Community Match Program, Foster Care Endowment, and Future Teachers Loan Repayment and Conditional Scholarship Program.

Finally the budget makes investments in  other key areas:

  • Funding is provided to the Washington State University to establish a medical school in Spokane. Two and half million are appropriated to support the accreditation process. The remaining amount will support the education of medical students in the WSU medical school ($8 million).  In addition, $9.4 million is transferred from the Washington State University to the University of Washington to support the continued education of medical students enrolled in the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) program located in Spokane. Finally an additional $3 million is provided to the Family Medicine Residency Network located at the University of Washington to expand the number of residency slots in Washington.
  • Funding is provided to computer science. Eight million is provided to the University of Washington to expand computer science and engineering degrees, $2.2 million is provided to Washington State University to establish software engineering and data analytics programs at the University Center in Everett and an electrical engineering program in Bremerton, $910,000 is provided to Western Washington University to establish a computer and information systems security program at Olympic and Peninsula Colleges and $1 million is provided to Bellevue College to create a bachelors of science degree in computer science.
  • Funding is provided to  Western Washington University ($1.2 million), Eastern Washington University ($996,000), The Evergreen State College ($750,000) and Central Washington University ($715,000) to expand student advising and support services that lead to increased degree completion.
  • Funding is provided to support  the collective bargaining agreements and arbitration awards reached between state employees and the Governor or Institutions of Higher Education and to state agencies and institutions of higher education for a general salary increase for employees not represented by a collective bargaining unit.

Evergreen

The House’s budget freezes tuition for undergraduate, resident students for the biennium at Evergreen. The budget provides $2.954 million to offset the tuition freeze, providing funding funds for increased compensation and inflationary costs that institutions.

In addition the budget provides The Evergreen College $750,000 in the second year of the biennium to expand student advising and support services that lead to increased degree completion.

Finally, the budget does not provide funds to eliminate the student backlog in computer science at Evergreen. Currently 50-75 students.

Revenue

The House budget is supported by $1.5 billion in proposed revenue. The proposed revenue package includes a 5% excise tax on capital gains profits. Revenues from this tax would be placed into a new “Student Investment Fund” to be used for K-12 and higher education investments.

For higher education the fund would support the House’s proposed investments for the State Need Grant, funding to support the tuition freeze, investments in computer science and engineering, funding for the WSU medical school and residencies, and investments in innovation including the student services support for the comprehensive institutions and Evergreen.

The package also reinstates the increase on the B&O service tax rate by 0.3% and increases the Small Business B&O Tax Credit for services businesses by nearly double. Finally the package taxes transactions from out-of-state online retailers and repeals and narrows seven tax exemptions.

Next Steps

The House Appropriations Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed operating budget on Monday, March 30 with action scheduled to move the budget to the House floor on Tuesday afternoon.  The House Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the revenue proposal (HB 2224) on Tuesday morning.

 

House Postpones Hearing On Budget

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Late this afternoon the House postponed the public hearing and executive session on the proposed biennial operating budget.

The proposed operating budget, along with the proposed capital budget, will still be released tomorrow, March 27 at 11:30.

Both budgets are now scheduled to have a public hearing on Monday, March 30 with an executive session scheduled for Tuesday, March 31.

Stay tuned!

Next Week Deadlines and Money

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Next  week the House and Senate will continue to advance policy legislation forward in the process. Both chambers have until April 1 to advance policy bills to either a fiscal committee or the floor of the opposite chamber.

The House and Senate Higher Education committees will each meet once to take final action on any policy legislation this session.

In addition, the House Capital Budget is scheduled for a public hearing on the House’s proposed biennial capital budget on Monday followed by an executive session on the budget on Tuesday.

It is expected that the Senate will release its budget proposals either sometime next week or early in the week after.

Finally between policy deadlines and budget news, the House and Senate fiscal committees will begin the long work of advancing bills to the floor. Both chamber must move all bills to the floor in the opposite chamber by April 7, unless the legislation is deemed necessary to implement the budget.

House Higher Education Committee Hears Tuition Reduction Legislation

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This morning the House Higher Education Committee took up two bills that would reduce tuition at Washington’s public universities and colleges.

Senate Bill 5954 creates the College Affordability Program (CAP), removing tuition-setting authority for resident undergraduate students for the public baccalaureate institutions.

Beginning in the 2015-16 academic year, tuition fees for resident undergraduates, under SB 5954,  would be no more than six percent of the state’s average wage for community and technical colleges, 10 percent for the regional universities and The Evergreen State College, and 14 percent for the research universities.

Beginning with the 2015-17 operating budget, the Legislature would appropriate to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and each four-year institution of higher education an amount that is at least equal to the total state funds appropriated in the 2013-15 biennium plus the reduction in revenues from resident undergraduate tuition operating fees received for the 2015-17 fiscal biennium adjusted for inflation.

In addition the committee took testimony on HB 2201. HB 2201 would repeal tax deductions for the interest on investments for loans secured by mortgages, deeds or trusts.  The revenue generated would be used to offset a reduction in tuition for institutions of higher education and any savings to the State Need Grant would be reinvested into the grant program to serve more students. The repeal would be sent to voters in a referendum for their approval.

The Council of Presidents, University of Washington and The Evergreen State College testified on both bills. Evergreen asked the committee to focus on the critical policy issue in front of Washington higher education, how to best provide sufficient, stable and predictable funding for the state’s colleges and universities. Whatever the path forward, it is critical that it must clearly and decisively link tuition policy and state investment for institutions and financial aid.

While the college appreciates that both bills continue to make an investment to provide affordable access in higher education and try to right the ship and begin to equalize the cost sharing involved in financing higher education between the state and students and their families, Evergreen expressed to major concerns.

First, there is the lack of a direct link between tuition policy and state investment in SB 5954 because it is a policy bill and not a budget.  And while there is a link between state investment and tuition policy for HB 2201 the bill refers the decision to voters. If the measure were to fail the result would be a cut to higher education funding to simply meet current programs and services.

Second, both proposals only provide a path to address maintenance level funding for institutions. Neither proposal provides a pathway forward for the needed investments in higher education institutions and financial aid to take steps forward to ensure access to a quality, affordable postsecondary education.

Evergreen summarized by stating that the College values the focus on tuition policy, but this one part of the equation. The critical issue for higher education is how to provide adequate public reinvestment to accomplish the state’s goals for access, completion and post-graduate success.

Senate Committee Advances Evergreen Trustee Nominations

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This afternoon the Senate Higher Education Committee advanced several gubernatorial appointments to the boards of institutions of higher education. Among the trustees and regents that were advanced to the Senate floor was Fred Goldberg and David Nicandri.

The Senate will confirm their appointment some time in April.

The Week Ahead: Policy and Awaiting the Budget

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This week the House and Senate will continue to advance policy legislation forward in the process. Both chambers have until a week from Wednesday to move bills from the opposite chamber to either the floor or a fiscal committee.

At the same time everyone is awaiting the release of the House operating and capital budgets. This year the House will introduce their proposed biennial budgets first followed by the Senate. Rumor suggests that a release may come early next week.

House Higher Education

The House Higher Education Committee will hold a series of public hearings this week. Among the bills the committee will take testimony include legislation with regard to sexual assault prevention on campuses (SB 5518 and 5719), adding the branch campuses to the Office of Financial Management’s Education Research and Data Center’s dashboard for public, baccalaureate institutions (SB 5295), and the type of financial aid information shared with prospective and admitted students to higher education institutions (SB 5328)

The Committee is expected to hold an executive session on bills heard to date on Thursday.

Senate Higher Education

The Senate Higher Education Committee will hold several public hearings early this week.  Among the bills scheduled include legislation to establish a task force on mental health and suicide prevention in higher education (HB 1138) and the creation of a pilot project for performance-based grants within the State Need Grant (HB 2041).

The Week Ahead: Committees and Policy

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This week is the first full week of policy committees post floor session.  Committees in both the House and Senate will hold public hearings and decide which bills from the opposite chamber to advance.  All policy bills, unless deemed necessary to implement the budget, must have moved from a policy committee to either a fiscal committee or the floor by April 1.

House Higher Education

The House Higher Education Committee will hold a work session focused on student consumer protection at for-profit, private colleges followed by a public hearing on legislation to conduct a study of the cost drivers at Washington’s public institutions (SB 5133) and streamlining statutes for the community and technical colleges (SB 5977).

Later this week the committee will hold a public hearing on legislation that advances recommendations to improve and enhance certain components of the College Bound Scholarship program (SB 5851), extends eligibility to students enrolled/accepted for enrollment for at least three quarter credits in a qualifying higher education program for the State Need Grant (SB 5638), creates a wildlife college student loan program (SB 5318), and aligns state student veteran residency with federal student veteran residency requirements (SB 5355).

Senate Higher Education

The Senate Higher Education Committee will hold a series of public hearings on Tuesday and Thursday focused on a range of issues.  Among the bills scheduled include legislation to require WSAC to report to the legislature regarding the affordability of the higher education system (HB 1238), remove tuition-setting authority for public baccalaureate institutions (HB 1696), and a series of bills that would benefit student veterans.

The Senate will also hold a work session on Central Washington University’s online alternative credit model proposal.

Obama Administration Issues Student Aid Bill of Rights

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This week in Georgia President Obama announced the release of a Student Aid Bill of Rights along with a series of executive actions aimed at helping students who owe student loans held by the government.

The primary components of these actions will be the creation of a centralized complaint system for federal student loan borrowers as well as a single website where they can manage their loan payments.

By next July students and borrowers will be able to file complaints about federal student loan lenders, servicers, collection agencies and colleges and universities.  Through this effort students would have the ability to track what is happening with the status of a complaint and the U.S. Department of Education would have aggregate data to use from the complaint system to make decisions regarding performance of its loan services in addition to current metrics the Department collects. Finally the Department will study how it should collect and resolve complaints it receives about colleges and universities.

In addition, the series of executive actions taken by the President include steps to improve and standardize the customer service experience of federal student loan borrowers. For example the Department will establish a single website where all federal loan borrowers can access their account and payment information.  The Department also plans to direct its contracted loan services to provide enhance disclosures when their loans are transferred between servicers and to more aggressively reach out when borrowers fall behind in their payments or need help changing repayment plans. Finally the Department will instruct loan servicers to apply prepayments  – money a borrower pays in excess of their monthly minimum – to the loans with the highest interest rate, unless the borrower requests otherwise.

Beyond the Department, the U.S. Treasury will look for ways to let borrowers provide multi-year authorization for the IRS to release the income information needed to apply for federal income-based repayment programs.

Finally, the Department will engage a task force to develop regulatory and legislative proposals to help struggling borrowers with both federal and private student loans.  One topic that will be considered is a change to bankruptcy law.