For Washington’s public state universities, the news in the 2010 supplemental state budget was bad, but it could have been worse. After months of concern and threat, funding for the State Need Grant and much of the funding for student Work Study was preserved. This funding will help to make sure that public university education remains available to qualified students from all income groups.

Each university must accommodate a 6.3% cut to its state appropriations, on top of the 25% to 30% reductions to state appropriations that were imposed in last year’s biennial budget. This will of course mean fewer and larger classes and more time and money spent earning degrees.

On each of our campuses, the United Faculty of Washington State is working hard to make sure these cuts have the least possible impact on our students.

The 2010 legislative session was a difficult one for everybody, but there were some signs that our continuing effort to help the legislature understand the precarious position of Washington’s public universities had some effect.