Students march on Olympia

Kayla Webley
2005-03-02
The Daily

More than 100 students clad in T-shirts emblazoned with "Educate Us Now Or Pay For Us Later" journeyed to Olympia yesterday to voice their concerns to Washington State legislators.

"In a year where the budget faces a lot of cuts, higher education is one of the first things on the chopping block," said junior Zach Tobin, chair of the ASUW Student Senate. "We are not looking to lower tuition -- that's impossible -- but we are here to advocate for lowering the percentage at which tuition is increased."

Students heard from a series of speakers, including UW President Mark Emmert, as they rallied on the steps of the capitol building.

"I wanted to lend my support to all the students here today," said Emmert. "I wanted to make sure they understand how important their voice is in the legislative process."

In small group meetings with more than 70 legislators, students voiced their concerns about having to foot 51 percent of their education bill. The other 49 percent of the cost is subsidized by the state.

"Nine years ago, the UW had about 30 percent of tuition funded by students, and the state supported the rest of the cost of education," said senior Ryan Mattson, who met with Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle.

"Currently the state Legislature is moving away from a state-funded school to a state-supported school and as trends continue they will be moving closer to a system that resembles private education where the students are paying a majority of the costs."

Jacobsen said he appreciated the opportunity to hear from students as opposed to the numerical representation of students he sees in paperwork.

"I think [student lobbying] really helps because in the end we understand everything by human beings and their stories," said Jacobsen, who met with a group of six students. "I like to give them my position because it is a chronic issue -- students never want tuition to go up. One day I hope they will have a divine epiphany and support my position and work to support financial aid."

Some students reported legislators sympathized with their concerns, while others faced unexpected feedback.

ASUW Vice President Andy O'Connell, who met with Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, said his group asked the senator if he supported the high aid, high tuition model to solve the funding crisis. The model would purportedly compensate for increased tuition rates by increasing financial aid funding. Proponents of the plan say the higher tuition will not affect students who cannot afford to pay it, but many students are skeptical.

According to O'Connell, not only did Zarelli support the model, he also supported decreasing state subsidies to fund higher education.

"It was ridiculous. He basically told us it is not the role of the state to fund higher education and that we should all go to private schools and take out mountains of loans," O'Connell said.

UW sophomore Chris Andrews said he came to Lobby Day because "tuition is everything you don't want it to be."

"I think that [tuition at the UW] has reached the highest it can go because it is a public institution," he said. "If you want to be competitive you shouldn't always look to the schools that charge more because in fact there are schools that charge less."