Metrics depicting the impacts of the cost of education at WSU have improved considerably since 2014, updated figures show.
The Great Recession not only ripped through university budgets, it also left an unprecedented mark on affordability. Tuition at WSU —assumed by the Legislature in its cuts-laden budgets — jumped by 75 percent over four years and revisions to what was then known as the State Need Grant for low-income students left thousands eligible but unserved.
The Legislature has since undertaken two major initiatives to rewrite that legacy. After funding a tuition freeze for two years, replacing forgone tuition revenues with state appropriation, in 2015 the Legislature approved a new tuition policy that fully funded a tuition cut of 15 percent over two years at WSU. The same legislation also indexed future increases to the 14-year rolling average of median wage growth, ensuring that tuition would grow slowly over time. Annual tuition increases at WSU have never exceeded 2.5 percent since. Though new student-approved fees may have pushed total bills a bit higher on some campuses, the WSU operating fee — the largest component of the tuition bill and the one subject to these increases — is still lower in real dollars than it was in the fall of 2014.
The Legislature followed this up in 2019 by replacing the underfunded State Need Grant with the Washington College Grant, making it an entitlement program with a graduated benefit indexed to median family income with full awards covering all tuition and mandatory fees. Eligibility for full awards was slightly improved in 2022 to cover even more students.
That data show that affordability metrics at WSU have improved notably when comparing fall of 2022 to the fall of 2014, just before these initiatives were put into motion.
- The percentage of resident undergraduates who pay no tuition has improved from 31 percent in 2014 to 37 percent in 2022.
- The percentage of resident undergraduates who pay full tuition has fallen from 42 percent in 2014 to 33 percent in 2022.
- The percentage of resident undergraduates who graduated with no loan debt was 39.6 percent in 2014 and bottomed out at 35.6 percent in 2015 but has since climbed to 50 percent in 2022.
- For resident undergraduates who graduate with debt, average debts were $23,812 in 2014 and peaked at $25,231 in 2015 but have since receded to $23,708 in 2022. These are all well below national averages that today hover near $30,000 for undergraduates.
One point worth considering is the full impact of the Washington College Grant has not yet been built in. This academic year marks the first time a cohort of students will have received the grant for four years to achieve maximum savings. What’s more, the full impact of the expansion approved this year won’t be felt until the newly-eligible population is in its fourth year during the 2025-26 academic year. As a result, more improvement to these metrics may be on the way.