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State Board Holds Forum at EWU: Topics Include Tuition, Health Care, Book Costs

Posted on: Friday, 9 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Peter Barnes, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Jun. 9--The crowd was sparse Thursday at a forum held by the state's higher education board at Eastern Washington University, but the students who participated offered some poignant insight into the state of their campus and college life in general.

"Students don't feel like they get to impact things as much as they really do," said student Garrett Havens.

Discussion started out on how to get more students involved in campus decisions and quickly segued into topics the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board has traveled to colleges around the state to gather comment on.

"The tuition at EWU I see as very affordable," said Jordan Knox. Others in the audience agreed and pointed to the school's high rate of working students and first-generation college graduates.

It's a fine line though, they said, to balance affordability with Eastern's image as an educational institution.

"We don't want to say, 'We're cheap, come to Eastern,' " Knox said. "I think that's one of our strong points, but it shouldn't be our only selling point."

Joann Wiszmann, deputy director of the board, then asked what they thought of the University of Washington's transition to a higher tuition rate offset with more financial aid.

The idea didn't sit well at Eastern.

"Looking at your tuition bill every quarter and not having a heart attack is comforting," Courtney Flemming said. She and others also were skeptical that scholarships would ensure affordability.

For example, Flemming said her parents make too much money for her to be eligible for federal grants, but they aren't wealthy enough to pay for her schooling.

"It's kind of a Catch-22," she said.

The federal financial aid system also assumes that parents will give their adult children money for college. But many don't.

State and private organizations offer various tuition assistance programs, and Wiszmann said Washington officials are working to create a clearinghouse for student scholarships.

The EWU students said that would generate a lot of interest but might make some obscure scholarships more competitive.

Keeping students in school can be a challenge, they said.

About 77 percent of full-time EWU freshmen return for a second year. Just under half graduate within six years. Both numbers are in line with national averages.

Eastern could do more to help students make the transition from high school, students said. Math can be particularly challenging. Students and board officials said larger classes, more student autonomy and the often long gap between high-school and college math can leave students behind.

Other topics at the forum included student health care, campus diversity and skyrocketing textbook prices.

"A lot of students are spending a lot of money on these textbooks, and they don't even need them," Havens said.

A new state law curbs "bundling" texts with extra products, like software, that students often don't need. It requires booksellers to tell instructors how much the texts will cost students.

Still, when a pricy book is required for a class, there's not a lot that students can do, aside from checking eBay for a used copy.

"We're kind of at the mercy of publishers," Havens said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Spokesman-Review

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