UW regents set to approve biggest-ever tuition increase

The University of Washington's Board of Regents is expected to approve an undergraduate, in-state tuition increase of 20 to 22 percent during Thursday's board meeting.

It would be the largest tuition increase in the school's history, and the second-largest percentage increase.

Including mandatory fees, a 20 percent tuition increase would bring the cost of a year at the UW to $10,574 for in-state undergraduates. A 22 percent increase would bring the cost to $10,737.

It is still slightly lower than tuition and fees at Washington State University, which increased its tuition by 16 percent, to $10,798, for in-state undergraduate students at the Pullman campus this fall.

If the regents approve the increase, the UW would become the only four-year school in the state to take advantage of a new state law that allows the four-year schools to increase tuition beyond the amount budgeted by the state Legislature. If the UW goes beyond the budgeted amount — a 16 percent tuition increase — it will be required to set aside 5 percent of tuition revenue for financial aid.

Tuition is skyrocketing because the Legislature has dramatically cut funding to higher education. Over the past three years, the amount of money the UW receives from the state has fallen 50 percent. The UW has eliminated positions, cut classes, increased class sizes and frozen faculty salaries for the past two years. Under the current budget, faculty salaries will be frozen for two more years.

A 20 percent increase would allow the UW to restore or increase hundreds of class offerings and expand hours or reopen the school's writing and learning centers, said Vice Provost Paul Jenny of the UW office of planning and budgeting.

Under the proposal, out-of-state tuition would increase 10 percent, to $27,230.

UW officials say the actual cost of providing a year of education at the school is about $16,000, which has not changed since the 1990s if the number is adjusted for inflation.

In the early 1990s, the state Legislature picked up about 80 percent of the cost of educating each student; in 2011, the state will pick up about 30 percent.

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com