Danny Westneat has been obsessing over our woeful higher education funding recently, as he should, first with a column pointing out that we would need to expand the number of degrees awarded by 25,000 annually just to keep up with current demand, and now with a column highlighting the utter stupidity of asking our universities to prepare for another 15 percent cut.
Danny’s doing a great job of pointing out the death spiral our state college and university system is facing. But what he hasn’t touched on is the obvious solution: raise taxes.
As you can see in the chart below, the cost of educating each “full time equivalent” student has remained relatively flat over the past 25 years. But as state funding has been slashed, tuition has been hiked to increasingly make up the difference, from about 20 percent of costs in 1960 to about to about 75 percent today. That is a direct shift of costs onto the backs of students and their families, resulting in an explosion of student debt.
To be clear, it’s not the cost of a college education that’s been skyrocketing, it’s the price:
The story of rising tuition is the story declining state funding.
So why have we resorted to this dramatic shift from taxpayer funding to ever-higher tuition? The following chart, tracking state taxes per $1,000 of personal income should give you a clue:
Washington State’s tax burden is at a half-century low.
As you can clearly see, our state’s dramatic decline in higher education funding corresponds directly to a dramatic decline in state tax revenue as a percentage of our overall economy. We can have a conversation about how to spend higher education dollars more efficiently if we want. But the inescapable truth is that we’re simply not spending enough money. And we’re not spending enough money because our state taxes are too low.
No we can’t just throw money at the problem. But part of the problem is a lack of money. And just like with our K-12 schools, we simply cannot adequately address this shortfall without raising taxes.
Notwithstanding Republican wailing about “high taxes,” Washington residents gave themselves a huge tax cut during the Great Recession when they quit spending. The drop in state revenues is directly due to the state’s dependency on sales taxes, and we’ll never have rational funding of public services unless we replace the sales tax with an income tax.
How many times have you heard conservatives argue that the solution to low wages is, “Get an education!” Then, they criticize students for going in debt, and if they can’t get decent-paying jobs it’s because they all have “basket weaving degrees.” This from people who can’t even spell words like “too” correctly.
My point is funding for public education, from K-12 through college, is languishing in part because the conservative element of society disrespects education which translates into political opposition to education funding. They think if they can make a million by flipping houses or being slumlords, that proves everyone else should be ignorant rednecks like them, too.
Speaking of which, I wonder how our old friend “lost in a sea of blue” is doing these days?
Was Lost in a sea of blue the one who argued that only property owners should be allowed to vote on property tax levies and ballot issues since they were the ones who “paid” for them and people from out of area who paid sales taxes when they traveled through the state should be allowed to vote on sales tax issues?
I don’t see how we can raise significant more taxes on just sales taxes and property taxes. (If only there were a way to have a progressive sales tax.) I would vote for an steeply progressive income tax if at the same time, sales tax went away totally
Most people don’t know the difference between a progressive and a regressive tax system. Republicans know this and tie their regressive policies to things like ‘Freedom’, ‘the Constitution’, and ‘What our forefathers really meant’ — and Jesus — if necessary.
Liberals have to understand and embrace this fact about their fellow citizens and explain things to them (via advertising) in terms that they can understand. Like:
“How often does Bill Gates have to drive across the 520 and pay that toll? How often do you? Would a state income tax on the the rich really hurt them? We don’t think so.”
Actually, I don’t even think that making Bill Gates the bogeyman would even offend him.
@4- yes, I remember him saying that. Incidentally he’s still around on the SLOG as “Seattleblues”, where he still pretends to own a Tuscan villa while vociferously denying he’s that other guy with exactly the same syntax who claimed to own a Tuscan villa.
“Thanks to climbing tuition and inadequate college savings, 40 million Americans now have at least one outstanding student loan, according to new analysis from credit bureau Experian. That’s up from 29 million consumers in 2008.”
http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/1.....?hpt=hp_t2
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is what budget cuts have done to education. Republicans would shut down public colleges if they could. They’ve never wanted other people’s children to go to college. They don’t want them competing with their own stupid kids for plum jobs.
What’s wrong with a good career working in a craft or trade? Why is “college” so important? Do all of you look down on people who DON’T have fancy-schmancy college degrees?
@9
Can’t be sure if you’re being serious.
There’s nothing wrong with it but when you get to the point that only a very few can afford to go to college what do you do with everyone else? Can Seattle sustain 6,000 licensed plumbers or will that many undercut the pay rate and make Plumbing a low-wage job? Can the State of Washington use as many Welders as can’t go to college? If we have three HVAC technicians for every large building in the state, how often will they work?
10
Yeah, I’m serious. I’ve been hearing my whole life how wonderful all you college grads are compared to the rest of us, and I’m sick of it.
Having a fancy degree ain’t all you people think it is. Just ask the barista at Starbucks with the masters degree in drama and fine arts. Having that degree makes a wonderful coffee waitress, doesn’t it?
“On Tuesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released its annual collection of education statistics from around the industrialized world showing that the United States trails nearly all other industrialized nations when it comes to educational equality.” http://www.cnbc.com/id/101989517
@11 “college grads are compared to the rest of us”
That explains a lot right there.
Of course, Jack, not having gone to college you don’t know what you missed and can’t appreciate the value of a college education.
For example, you’re less likely to realize that you don’t know something or realize that what you think you know isn’t so.
College teaches you how to find information, how to evaluate it critically (i.e. separate wheat from chaff, so to speak), and how to think — things you’re not very good at because you never learned how to do them; but you probably don’t realize you’re not very good at them and may even believe that you are because you don’t know better.
I guess an analogy might be that someone who went to plumbing school is better at fixing pipes than someone who didn’t. Likewise, someone who went to college is better at thinking than someone who didn’t, because teaching people how to think is what a college education is for.
It’s not a case of some people being superior to others (although I’m not saying they aren’t); rather, it’s a matter of people being good at different things. I think better than my mechanic does, but he knows how to fix cars.
@11 “Having a fancy degree ain’t all you people think it is.”
Actually, it is.
“Just ask the barista at Starbucks with the masters degree in drama and fine arts. Having that degree makes a wonderful coffee waitress, doesn’t it?”
Have you ever actually asked a barista at Starbucks, or anywhere else, whether she has a masters degree and if so in what?
You see, Jack, stereotyping people like this and making assumptions about things you actually know nothing about is the mark of an uneducated person.
It’s not a matter of snobbery. I’ve always said that I have more respect for a good car mechanic than a lousy brain surgeon. But I wouldn’t let a mechanic operate on my brain and my guess is you wouldn’t either.
Let’s say your hypothetical barista does have a masters degree in fine arts and drama. Let’s give your imaginary barista a name … um, how about J. K. Rowling? We’ll pretend she got a degree in French and Classics, but instead of becoming a barista, got a job ads a secretary for, uh, let’s say Amnesty International. And then after a failed marriage and becoming a single mom went on welfare, and while on welfare spent her time writing fantasy stories in coffee shops while her young daughter slept on her lap.
Actually, J. K. Rowling is a real billionaire. She cashed in very nicely on her education in literature. Not exactly a useless degree, eh what?
I’m trying to think who took acting classes. How about Angelina Jolie? Are you making a better living than she does?
I could go on but it’s probably pointless; the educated people reading this comment likely have already figured out where I’m going with this, and if you haven’t by now it’s unlikely you ever will.
The main thing is, Jack, you have a trade-school mentality and colleges aren’t trade schools. It isn’t their job to teach people a trade like installing pipes, wiring commercial buildings, or fixing cars. There’s nothing wrong with making your living that way, especially if you like working with your hands. But there’s a reason why plumbers, electricians, and mechanics don’t become CEOs, U.S. Senators, or brain surgeons. Those jobs require thinking, and therefore are filled with people who have been taught how to think.
By the way, my plumber happens to have a college degree in jazz piano. He also went to trade school to learn plumbing and that’s how he makes his living. But if I ever need a good jazz pianist I know where to get one. And when he needs a lawyer, he knows where to find me. We all have different talents and aspirations; who are you to say the gal behind the counter making your latte shouldn’t take advanced studies in fine arts and drama if that’s what you want to do?
Remember the 2004 election recounts? I was on the Democratic Party’s observer team for that. A young woman from the King County Elections Department was sent over to the building where the ballots were being stored and counted to answer the phones and handle visitors as they came in. It turned out she had been trained to be an opera singer, and after two bone-wearying weeks of ballot counting, after all the media had left and the temporary workers had gone home, she treated us to an aria. It was very nice, she had a golden voice, and the fact she was making her living by doing office work took nothing away from her special talent. Her voice filled that entire building. She’s no longer in Seattle; last I heard, she had moved to Texas and was employed by an elections department there.
Jack, it’s really sad that you have such a narrow-minded view of things. There’s more to life than just learning a trade and cashing paychecks. I hope someday you’re understand that, although I’ve got to admit I’m not holding my breath.
Let’s see, who else has a “fancy degree”?
Jim McNerney graduated from Yale with a degree in arts and sciences, then got an MBA from Harvard, he was chairman and CEO of 3M before he became chairman and CEO of Boeing. I’m not especially a fan of his, although I bought some Boeing stock today.
George Soros has a Bsc and PhD in philosophy. He emigrated to England from his native Hungary at age 17 and “became an impoverished student at the London School of Economics. While a student of the philosopher Karl Popper, Soros worked as a railway porter and as a waiter. A university tutor requested aid for Soros, and he received £40 from a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) charity.” You’re probably not especially a fan of Soros, but you can’t say he hasn’t done well financially, if that’s the litmus test by which you judge the value of other people’s education.
Stephen Hawking’s parents studied medicine (father) and philosophy, politics, and economics (mother) at Oxford, a fancy-schmantzy English university. They met at a medical institute where he was a researcher and she was a secretary. The Hawkings weren’t rich, but they were education snobs, so they sent Stephen to good schools. His father “advised him to study medicine, concerned that there were few jobs for mathematics graduates.” But Stephen liked math and after he got into Oxford — that fancy-schmantzy school again — he also studied chemistry and physics for good measure. If you ever run into him, would you do me a favor and have him explain string theory to you, so you can explain it to me? This quantum stuff is a bit challenging for me, but then, my pre-law education was in journalism, political science, and economics. I was training to be a politician but ultimately decided to be a lawyer instead.
Let’s see, who are some Hollywood stars who have brains and fancy degrees? Natalie Portman has a B.A. in psychology from Harvard. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a B.A. in business and international economics from University of Wisconsin. Jodie Foster’s degree in English literature is from Yale. David Duchovny has an M.A. in English literature from Yale. Lucy Liu has a B.S. in Asian languages and cultures from Michigan. Sacha Cohen has a B.A. in history from Cambridge, another fancy-schmantzy English university.
You see, Jack, you can’t judge a person by their degree. It’s what they do with it that matters. Choosing to remain uneducated was your personal choice, and I respect that as far as it goes, but given that this blog has many highly educated people on it, you shouldn’t come here to knock education and people who know than you. You’ve been posting here for a while now, and your ignorance of many subjects is palpable. You’re probably the only person here that doesn’t realize it. I’m sure you have useful talents, but an intellectual you are not.
@9 “Do all of you look down on people who DON’T have fancy-schmancy college degrees?”
No, I don’t think any of us do that. When your pipes freeze or break, a plumber is the most important person there is. When my car quits running, the mechanic who makes it run again is pretty important, too. Without bakers, none of us would have bread. This is a big wide world and there’s room in it for everyone. Each person brings his own skill or talent. Mine is government. Figuring out how to make society’s governing institutions function properly is what I’ve done my whole life. I was trained in journalism, political science, economics, public management, and law. I went to college, graduate school, and law school but I don’t look down on plumbers, mechanics, bakers, or baristas. I can figure out what a Supreme Court decision says, but I can’t fix a car or make a latte.
Well lookee here, the Seattle Times actually published something intelligent:
“Monday, I said Washington needs a state income tax. … I support an income tax because … it is more fair than our current reliance on property and sales taxes along with taxes on businesses. I also think a better mix of revenue sources would help the state deal with ups and downs in the economy.”
http://seattletimes.com/html/l.....11xml.html
The writer, columnist Jerry Large, noted that “the most common arguments against the idea [are] revolving around a lack of trust in politicians or government in general.” I don’t know how you solve this, in the face of an ideology that equates all government with Stalinism, other than by defeating that ideology at the polls. Which is what I’ve tried to do on this blog over the last 10 years, with mixed results, because it’s hard to get ignorant people to vote for rational policies. And there’s not an easy fix for ignorance, especially when public education keeps going downhill for lack of adequate funding.
My husband put himself through college and earned one of those fancy-schmancy degrees, a BA in philosophy. Then he worked many years as a gardener and an arborist. He thinks his background in philosophy, and especially in logic, was a wonderful preparation for anything he wanted to do and if he had it to do over again, he wouldn’t do anything differently.
That said, he graduated in 1972 from a public university, and the debt burden he took on was MUCH less than it would be if he were an undergraduate today. I don’t know what I would advise 18 year-olds today, those who didn’t have any clear idea of what they “wanted to be when they grew up.” Maybe work for a year or so and see if added maturity helps them decide what to study, before they plunk down the big bucks.
I value both college degrees and good blue collar jobs. I have a masters degree and also work in a unionized construction trade. Even though I don’t directly work in my so called field, my degree allowed me to advance to a higher paid niche in my field and do high-paying and rewarding work.
The good blue collar jobs are generally accessed through a union apprenticeship. Most of those have a years long waitlist. Every new candidate to these fields displaces someone else. This will continue until we stop with our war on unions. If you want more people in good blue collar jobs, you should support unions, not attack people who choose college.
My son has 4 years of college paid for by a GET gift from my mom before she died. I’m going encourage my son to get a job or join the peace corp or do something for a couple of years before he goes to college so he’s got some real world experience of working for a living. I was clueless at 18. I was starting to be grounded by 21. I wasted a couple of years of college trying to figure that out.
How do you all remember it? Were you ready for University at 18? Would you have been better waiting a couple of years?
“Having a fancy degree ain’t all you people think it is.”
Of course not. The person still has to think about employment and what degree will enhance that work. Could be that the person is independently wealthy and can get what ever degree they want. It could be that people get those fancy degrees because they see them helping them with their entrepreneurship.
Trades are not always a golden ticket either. I don’t thing being a buggy whip maker or chimney sweep or taxi driver are a booming business and I don’t know that horse shoer is a 6 figure income for a lot of people.
Like anything, the person has to think about learning a degree or a trade in what other people are willing to pay good money for. Not everyone does that.
@11
Again, if only a fraction of people can afford to go to college and end up in overpaid middle management jobs at Microsoft who then spend their disposable income on things like plumbing or air conditioning or home duct cleaning or hardwood floors or auto detailing how many tradesmen without a degree will have a job?
I ask only because it is one of the most basic tenets of capitalist economics. The supply of consumers must balance out the output of product or the price of the product collapses. In this case, the product is lower-middle class trade jobs.
But yeah, we don’t need college educated folk. Tradesmen will be fine sitting around most days of the week not getting paid for lack of work. A tradesman’s lack of disposable income won’t ripple through the rest of the economy at all.
Conservative answer, “Some people aren’t meant to go to college” where by some people they mean people who can’t spent $50-60k over four years to go to college. Lather Rinse, pretend that not having a middle class will make a boom economy, whistle a jaunty tune, repeat.
@23 There’s more to this than just economics. If we were a society consisting of no one but tradesmen, i.e. people skilled with their hands but unschooled in thinking and analysis, the economy would collapse. You can’t build skyscrapers without ironworkers, but you can’t build them without architects, designers, and engineers, either.
The idea that college graduates “look down on” people without degrees is not my experience. I’m sure there are such people but not in my circles. Some of the smartest, most capable people I know work in skilled trades. They also are multi-lingual, literate and interested in fine arts.
The idea that liberal arts majors can’t find employment is also not my experience. I know multiple individuals with degrees in English who work as Microsoft program managers. No, they can’t code, but they can read, write well and think clearly.
People get degrees for personal satisfaction as well. My father, a blue-collar guy who put himself through the UW working in a steel mill, always said that education was something that no one could ever take from you.
When I was a wee lad, I recall being told in grade school, repeatedly, that America was great because we had an educated population capable of self-rule. Does anyone still teach this? Certainly not most Republicans; they complain about uneducated voters but propose vote suppression as the solution rather than education.