WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

GET program gets great news

Perhaps just as you were thinking it unsafe to read anything about tuition price tags for colleges and universities: Along now comes excellent news for higher-education students — and especially for the folks who pay the bill for same.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAUnit-prices for the state’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program, contrary to predictions (Washington prepaid tuition cost likely going up again), will stay at $172 apiece this year. Overall, GET’s financial health is on the upswing, according to State Actuary Matt Smith‘s recent report.

Controlling the cost of tuition and preserving GET was high on the list of House Democratic priorities last session.  Indeed, the very first bill approved by the House of Representatives this year would have prohibited our state’s public colleges and universities from charging different tuition rates for different areas of study.  Such differential-tuition practices could threaten the very existence of the GET program. Sponsored by House Higher Education chair Larry Seaquist, HB 1043 cleared the House, 95-1, only a month into the 2013 legislative session. But the legislation died in the Republican-led Senate.