Straws in the Wind - Part 71

From the Seattle Times: Across the state, Washington’s struggling public colleges and universities are laying off staff, raising tuition, cutting administrators and trimming programs. State budget cuts have landed at a time when severe cutbacks by President Donald Trump’s administration, on top of inflation, are exerting financial stress on the schools. The administration’s decision to broadly cut billions in federal research dollars will be a major revenue hit to the University of Washington. The cost of providing health care and other benefits to staff is rising. And international students — who help subsidize in-state students by paying higher tuition — are turning to Europe, Canada and other countries, although a full tally of international enrollment won’t be available until the fall. 

With all of those challenges, “it would have been opportune to ask the state to step in” with extra money, said Ruben Flores, executive director of the state Council of Presidents, a policy and research agency for the state’s six higher education institutions. But the Washington Legislature, facing deep financial challenges of its own, instead made an across-the-board cut of 1.5% to these higher education institutions for the next two years...

Full story at https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/uw-other-wa-colleges-face-big-money-problems/.