Rising tuition a threat to GET program

“Rising tuition a threat to GET program” by Katherine Long
The Seattle Times
Published 2/1/2011
Retrieved 2/13/2011
Complete URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014102603_get02m.html
Intended Audience: educators, parents, and the general public

Summary: One of the State’s reliable methods of increasing revenue is to increase tuition at their universities and colleges. Washington’s governor proposes to do just that in 2011 and 2012, raising the cost of tuition by 11% for each year. This poses a threat to the continuation of the Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program, which was set up to handle only a 7% annual tuition increase. At this rate, the program has only enough funds to pay each enrollee 86% of their tuition.

Key Points: 3 directions for the GET program:
1. Cut off new enrollment, which will prevent further financial loss from the program, but guarantee the need for the State to bail out the program in order to fully fund tuition for those already enrolled.
2. Guarantee payment of the State’s average tuition instead of its highest tuition. Full funding will depend on which school is attended.
3. Wait it out. Continue to attract investors to the GET program and hope the improving economy will stabilize the tuition rate.

Relevance: The reliable GET program may not be around for much longer, and if it is, enrollment may be much more expensive in order to prevent the whole program from going under. This issue is one illustration of the problem of steadily rising college tuition fees and the low-paying, entry-level jobs at which they can get your career jumpstarted.