Higher Education

Number of students using Washington’s public higher education system: 302,931

Total cost to maintain current levels of service in our state’s colleges and universities: $3.96 billion

Increase in number of students total using our state’s higher education system since 2005: 19,771

Increase in number of students in our state’s higher education system in the past year: 11,024

Number of new budgeted enrollments needed to maintain current rates of college attendance: 16,000

Total amount cut from the state higher education system in the Senate budget: $512 million

Average cut to each Washington technical and community college budget after a 5 percent tuition increase: 7 percent

Average cut to each four-year university’s budget after a 7 percent tuition increase: 11 percent

Number of Washington students who will not be admitted to one of our colleges or universities because their slots were cut in the budget: 10,500

Number of higher education employees who could lose their jobs: 2,300

Dollars cut from state sponsored research, library hours, library acquisitions, plant operations, extended learning, and other public service programs: $125 million

High demand fields listed to emphasized: 5

Bachelor of Arts degrees to be emphasized: 0

Forecasted state unemployment rate for 2010: 10 percent

Number of laid-off workers to expect access to community and technical colleges as the unemployment rate nears 10 percent: 15,000