Legislators, looking for even more critical services to cut (because that's what "responsible" legislators apparently do these days, cut services), asked the University of Washington to come up with an analysis of the impact of funding cuts under three scenarios: the $190 million worth of cuts in Gov. Gregoire's proposed budget, as well as funding cuts of an additional 15 percent and 30 percent respectively. Well today, the UW reported back to the Legislature (PDF), and it doesn't look pretty.
In the worst case scenario, the $247 million in funding cuts would result in:
- 300-500 fewer Washington residents in the freshman class
- Loss of 1,200-1,800 jobs on campus
- Potential consolidations of the Information School, the Evans School of Public Affairs, as well as other degree programs
- Annual tuition increases between 23 and 30 percent
- potentially increasing a student’s cost by $8,700 in tuition
Republicans and their surrogates keep telling us that we need to do more with less, well I guess Washington state is just going to have to do more with a less well educated workforce. I mean, better that than ask millionaires to pay a little income tax, right?