Community Corner

Moms Talk: Are Out-of-State Admissions Crowding Out Local Applicants?

Could Stanford say yes, but UW say no? Can we call an institution a state school if the best and brightest in its own backyard can't access an education there?

Question: How do you feel about UW turning away top resident graduates while boosting the bottom line with out-of-state students?

On Sunday, The Seattle Times published a story about the University of Washington accepting fewer resident freshmen for next fall, in favor of out-of-state or international students. Out-of-state students and international students pay much higher tuition rates, thus providing more revenue to the university than a Washington resident, whose costs are partially covered by taxes.

At a recent , state legislators indicated this could be a possibility as funding for higher education continues to be cut in Washington’s budget, but at the time it sounded like a prediction for the future, not a comment on the present.

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Even before this year's revelation, getting into—and paying for—UW has become an ever-more nail-biting prospect. In the most recent biennial budget, tuition was hiked 14 percent each year, increasing the cost for incoming 2010 freshmen (like my daughter) by 28 percent over two years. Now, future increases could be that much in a single year, legislators say.

Last year, when my daughter considered applying for admission to the University of Washington, I was concerned. Even then, we knew the school had frozen admission levels for freshmen. Though she took advanced placement classes and scored very well on her SAT, I wondered if her GPA would be high enough to get her a spot. However, at that time, there wasn't the risk that she would be passed over for admission in favor of a revenue-boosting out-of-state student.

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Luckily for my daughter, she opted to apply to the Bothell campus and was accepted with no problem. That decision has brought trade-offs for her, though, with fewer elective classes and activities available at the small campus, despite the same tuition rate. Her thought at the time was to transfer to the main campus for her sophomore year.

This year, students face an even tougher go, with the “state” school taking more out-of-state students and hiking tuition by double-digit figures as it faces further state budget cuts. In the Times article, UW admissions director Phillip Ballinger says the out-of-state tuition is actually subsidizing resident students, but that raises the following question for me: If the goal is to provide a quality education for Washington residents, but a 4.0 GPA can’t get you admitted to a state school, what good does accepting more non-resident students do for the state's higher-ed system?

In researching column, I recently met a high school sophomore who focuses all of her energy on her studies. She banks on excelling in high school to help her earn a spot, and scholarships, to attend a good university that also will allow her to remain close geographically to her immigrant family, an important consideration for many students in this ethnically diverse city. Now, I wonder if UW will be a real option for her when she graduates in a couple of years. Where will refocusing efforts like this leave students like her, I wonder, and can we call such an institution a state school if the best and brightest in its own backyard can’t access an education there?

And then I wonder about what the future holds for students like my kindergarten-age son. Will there be a viable option for our children who still have 12 years between themselves and college? By then, will they have a better chance of getting into Harvard than UW? 


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