The state House of Representatives Monday afternoon approved a bill granting Washington’s six public four-year universities tuition setting authority for eight years beginning this fall. House Bill 1795 was approved 79-17 and now heads to the Senate, where it likely will be sent to the Ways and Means Committee.
The bill would give universities a choice of setting tuition rates up to levels prescribed in the budget as is currently done or exceed that threshold and trigger new financial aid obligations for low and middle income students.
Either way, all universities would increase what they put into financial aid programs. Currently, 3.5 percent of all tuition revenue is held back for financial aid. Under the bill, that figure would increase to 4 percent for universities that do not exceed tuition thresholds listed in the budget and 5 percent for those that do.
This authority would last for four years. Universities then would have authority to set rates for an additional four years with limits tied to rates seen in other Global Challenge States.
The bill also contains new performance and accountability requirements and would authorize universities to set differential tuition rates for high cost programs, though those differential rates could trigger new financial aid requirements.