Students awash in purple gathered on the Capitol steps in Olympia Friday, calling for lawmakers to resist further cuts to higher education and to protect financial aid.An estimated 350 to 400 people from the University of Washington's Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell campuses gathered at noon shouting "knowledge is power" and letting out "whoop whoops" for state need grants and work study programs.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 05, 2010 09:01 PM | Email This
Pay for real value oneself? What's that? And they are also too uneducated to realize that a life unearned leaves one depressed.
Posted by: Jeff B. on February 6, 2010 08:23 AMFor that matter, how many voted (or supported) pegging the minimum wage to inflation (making Washington's minimum wage the highest in the nation)?
Think any would make the connection between costs of service delivered versus the cost of delivering the service?
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on February 6, 2010 11:10 AMSECTION 2 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools. The public school system shall include common schools, and such high schools, normal schools, and technical schools as may hereafter be established. But the entire revenue derived from the common school fund and the state tax for common schools shall be exclusively applied to the support of the common schools.
From what I read there is not a requirement that Universities receive ANY state funds. By funding the Universities they have taken funds away from the public schools. The recent court ruling, no matter how much I think it is a joke could cause even further cuts to the UW.
With Navy tuition assistance and using a year of GI bill eligibility I paid for it all myself without any help from my parents. I was able to pay off all of my private college debts two weeks before I graduated. I'm now working on my Masters.
Three years ago my sister was in high school and had an english class where everyone applied to the UW. She had a 3.7 GPA and was one of a few students denied entry to the UW because she did not meet the desired criteria for admission. She applied herself, and is now on a full military scholarship at Central with my parents covering room only.
Only 1/3 of the (real) student costs at our universities come from tuition, the rest is through grants, student aid and state "capital" support. These students need to be grateful for what they are receiving because I'm tired of paying a high sales tax to support a freshmen class where half of them drop out thier first year. They need to accept proven transfer students first and be held accountable.
We need the state to expand access and educate all students (including those online) who are willing and able to pay to support the system so we have the resources and/or the ability to help others.
Washington State has degree programs online that can be earned without ever setting foot in Pullman. Why can't the UW in tech heavy Seattle offer the same. Why arn't they willing to have remote county campuses in Bremerton, Everett and other communities with a demand for educational access like WSU has?
Those who would like the ability to recieve and pay for an affordable education in this state are waiting and the demand is there.
Posted by: Brandon on February 6, 2010 04:43 PMNow, if they'd just called it a public teabagging, this site would be slobbering all over itself about how great Those Kids Today really are...
Posted by: tensor on February 6, 2010 09:30 PMyou really think 1/100th of UW (seattle/tacoma/bothell) couldn't find a few hours out of their schedules (which aren't filled w/ classes from 8-6, M-F) to partake in democracy?
lew:
several majors don't allow time for jobs. most that can get jobs are earning at or near minimum wage, hardly enough to cover tuition, fees, room and board, etc (especially w/ amounts UW has upped across board in recent years). besides, in case you weren't aware, most places aren't hiring.
brandon:
you took money from your neighbors to pay for school, (you socialist!) and then complain that others shouldn't have the same opportunity? that's REALLY selfish. also, UW DOES have online degree programs.
You hit the nail on the head, too bad it wasn't the Dem state legislature that was hit on the head. Their responsibility isn't to fund the universities or so many other wasted pet areas that they insist on putting the money because it gets them the votes. Their paramount responsibility is to provide ample provisiton for the education of all it's children.
If only they would stick to the constitution like we conservatives demand of our national leaders.
Posted by: Doug on February 7, 2010 07:03 AMI do like the headline's unsupported assumption the students all had classes during the time of their protest. When I was in engineering school, I commonly had one or even two full days off during the week, usually spent on homework, lab reports, etc. Our professors did sometimes make available field trips to nearby industrial plants, so we could learn outside of class. I can't recall any of the engineers or workers we met on those trips accusing us of "playing hooky."
When actual protestors schedule the protests, they can choose times most convenient for them. "Protestors" who simply go whenever Rupert Murdoch's Fake News channel so orders may not understand this...
Posted by: tensor on February 7, 2010 03:58 PMState universities should shrink too. It might be interesting if each department had a limit as to how many students could major in a subject each year with students competing to get the 50 spots open for English majors or 2 spots open for Scandinavian Studies or 100 in Mechanical Engineering. The noncompetitive students could simply get general "Liberal Arts" or "Science" degrees. A college degree would be worth a lot more if the standards were higher.
Posted by: LeeAnn Balbirona on February 8, 2010 10:22 AM