Our public colleges and universities have seen a continuous decline in funding over the last two decades, with especially steep cuts over the last 4 legislative sessions.  This path of state disinvestment is compromising access, raising class sizes, reducing course offerings, and creating serious hardships across Washington State for students and their families, particularly those of more modest means. 

Our higher education system cannot sustain more cuts.  We are urging the legislature and the governor to look for a long-term and sustainable solutions for funding.

Solutions like tuition flexibility have not solved the problem and have merely lessened the blow of recent cuts rather than improve services or enhance educational opportunities on campus.  We must find a path for a stable future that is not entirely on the backs of students and their families.

The evidence is clear that a college education is a critical component of lifetime success and a well educated workforce is the key to prosperity in the 21st century -- we simply can’t afford to fall further and further behind our competitors or break our shared promise to the next generation that we will provide them the education and training they need to succeed in life.   We understand that the legislators in Olympia face difficult choices, but defunding higher education is shortsighted and will undermine the long-term economic vitality of our state.”

And our economy depends on an educated workforce.  By 2018, 63% of jobs nationally will require some kind of higher education degree.  In Washington State that number is 67%.  If we do not address this economic need we will continue to fall short.  

About CPC--Basic background information

 
The College Promise Coalition formed in 2011 to address an alarming pattern of state disinvestment in higher education, culminating in drastic proposed state budget cuts during the 2011 legislative session. The unprecedented coalition of advocates for public and private colleges and universities, students groups, parents, faculty, alumni, education proponents and leaders in business and labor came together to raise awareness among legislators and to urge them to make higher education a top priority in Washington State.  

Because of the sustained and coordinated efforts of CPC members during the 2011 session, legislators heard more than they ever had before about the strength of grassroots support for higher education from a diverse array of stakeholders .  They received thousands of emails and calls and received hundreds of personal visits from advocates asking them to prioritize higher education.  By presenting a unified message again this year, higher education advocates intend to become a growing voice in Olympia educating legislators about the importance of higher education to economic vitality and quality of life in Washington State.