Why UW And WSU Oppose Bill To Pay For Working Families' College Tuitition

In seemingly unlikely opposition, the State’s largest public universities testified against a bill in the Washington State Legislature that would pay for the higher education of more working class families. Supporters of the measure seem to think big tech is pulling the strings. 

House Bill 2098, sponsored by Rep. Julia Reed (D-Seattle), would massively expand the State’s ability to subsidize tuition for working families.

Stick with me. This gets a little weedy. 

HB 2098 would eliminate a corporate-compromise, the $75 million cap on the State’s Workforce Education Investment Act (WEIA) surcharge, a fee imposed on large tech businesses since 2019 that pays for the higher education these companies benefit from so greatly. Currently, WEIA pays for 100% of tuition costs for students from households that earn 0-60% of the family median income (FMI) through the Washington College Grant (WCG) program. WCG awards smaller amounts of financial aid for families who earn more, tapping out at a 10% award for students at the 76-100% FMI level.

If HB 2098 passes, more money would funnel through WEIA to WCG (holy acronyms). According to the bill summary, WCG would then cover the entire cost of tuition for any student from a household earning 0-100% FMI. The program would also provide some financial assistance to students from households earning up to 150% FMI. That sounds like alphabet soup, but it is legitimately huge. 

So more Washingtonians get to go to college and big tech will pay for it? Sounds awesome! But at a public hearing in the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce

Committee on Wednesday, lawmakers heard dissenting testimony from surprising stakeholders: Lobbyists for the University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU), who cheekily introduced themselves as buzzkills.

Basically their qualms boil down to another component of the bill that requires universities to reduce tuition for a few years. Again, weedy! Beginning in the 2027-28 academic year, universities would have to lower tuition operating fees for resident undergraduates by 10% each academic year until 2029-2030. Then, starting in the 2030-31 academic year, universities could raise the tuition operating fees at the rates they agreed to during the 2015 negotiations. 

According to the fiscal note attached to the legislation, the tuition reduction component would cost UW a cool $340 million and WSU $202 million. Overall, the note estimates that the period of tuition cuts would cost seven public universities $823 million between 2027 and 2030. However this is not considering a possible increase in attendance driven by the expanded financial aid opportunities paid for by HB 2098. Afterall, the legislation will generate almost $2 billion, Reed told The Burner. 

Reed, the bill’s sponsor, took to social media to put UW and WSU on blast for testifying against the bill: “Guess they don't want more students?” she wrote. 

Reed told The Burner that it’s a “surprising choice” for UW and WSU to testify against the bill. A more “normal” response she said would be to sign in “other” and argue for an amendment to ensure the tuition reductions don’t harm their operating abilities. Reed said she could “easily” write such an amendment or write an amendment that stipulates these tuition reductions only apply if the state appropriates funds to fill the gaps. 

That may be an uphill battle. WSU’s Senior Director of State Relations Chris Mulick hammered the point that WSU just doesn’t trust the legislature. 

“We have a surplus of intention but a deficit of trust,” Mulick said in his testimony Wednesday. 

After hearing testimony from WSU and UW, Reed subtly called bullshit, asking if the universities had received large donations from large tech corporations, the very companies who stand to pay if HB 2098 lifts the cap. UW, of course, affirmed the “generous” contributions the school has received from Amazon and Microsoft over the years, which from a quick Google search total in the hundreds of millions.