If we’re serious about funding our future, we must fund higher ed | Opinion

Washington lawmakers face difficult budget choices. But further cuts to funding for public colleges and universities like Western Washington University would close doors for Washington students and undermine our state’s economic future.

Public higher education is critical to our state’s future. It is a public good. It fuels economic growth, strengthens communities, and expands opportunity. It prepares the nurses who staff our hospitals, the teachers who educate our children, the engineers who design our infrastructure, and the public servants who sustain civic life. Public universities like WWU are one of the most effective tools we have for upward mobility and regional prosperity.

Western and Washington’s other public universities have already been cut to the bone. Last year the legislature sliced more than $500 million from public higher education. These cuts have eroded access to life-changing higher education and have forced colleges to reduce course offerings, academic programs, and student supports. And that erosion has fallen the hardest on students who have historically been excluded from higher education. At WWU, the state budget cuts have driven us to reduce course offerings by 20 percent, eliminate more than 100 jobs, and drastically reduced university expenses. The state is reducing access to college at precisely the moment when the state needs higher education more than ever.

Nearly half of Washington’s students are not continuing their education beyond high school. In Whatcom and Skagit counties, the challenge is even more pronounced. In the Concrete School District, nearly three out of four graduates do not enroll in postsecondary education. In Sedro-Woolley, almost two-thirds do not. In La Conner, more than half do not continue. Even in communities with comparatively higher participation rates, such as Anacortes or Bellingham, close to one-third of graduates are not pursuing further education.

These numbers represent lost opportunities for students, families, employers and communities. Most family-wage jobs now require education or training beyond high school. According to a recent Washington Roundtable report, nearly 45 percent of new job openings in Washington from 2023 to 2032 will require a bachelor’s or advanced degree. In response to this, the Washington State Legislature has set a goal that 70 percent of high school graduates will obtain a postsecondary credential or degree. That goal reflects economic necessity. But the true measure of the legislature’s actual intent lies in the choices made in the state budget. And the budget choices that legislators have made and are threatening to make again will make the 70 percent goal nothing more than empty rhetoric.

Further reductions would mean fewer classes, longer time to degree, reduced advising capacity, and diminished student support services. They would weaken programs that prepare nurses, teachers, engineers, environmental scientists, mental health professionals, big business leaders, and small business entrepreneurs. They would limit our ability to partner with local school districts to raise college-going rates in communities where participation already lags. Cutting funding now would shift costs onto students and families, increase tuition pressures, and constrain workforce supply at a time when employers are already struggling to find qualified workers. It would weaken the state’s ability to meet educational and economic goals. And it would send the wrong message to students who are already unsure whether college is within reach. Washingtonians will not have access to the jobs that will continue to go to students educated in states that value higher education.

As longtime members of WWU administration and faculty, we have witnessed firsthand the permanent damage that budget cuts have done in classrooms, laboratories, and advising offices. Faculty and staff who are dedicated to supporting our students and their futures have been stretched to the breaking point.

For Northwest Washington, this is far more than an abstract policy discussion. Further cuts would slash through our classrooms, communities, and the broader economy.

We urge lawmakers to stand with students and communities and protect funding for public higher education this session. The future of our state depends on it.

Sabah Randhawa is the President of Western Washington University. Bill Lyne is a professor at Western Washington University and the president of the United Faculty of Washington State.