Community and technical college students received the official word today they won’t be paying higher tuition this fall.
The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges voted this morning to freeze rates for resident and nonresident students. It will be the first time since 1989 that tuition will not rise at any of the state’s two-year colleges.
“Congratulations everyone. History has been made,” said board chairwoman Beth Willis following the decision. “This is very big. What a boon for our students.”
Lawmakers, as part of last month’s agreement on a new two-year state budget, pumped roughly $40 million more into Washington’s two-year college system and barred tuition from climbing this fall for students who are residents of Washington.
But they left the door open for hiking the price for out-of-state students who already pay more than twice as much as resident students at each of the 34 colleges.
Over the years the board has matched any tuition hike on resident students with an increase for nonresident enrollees. Board members decided Friday they could be consistent with that practice by freezing rates for everyone.
It means tuition will remain at $4,000 per year for resident students and $9,235 for nonresident students in the 2013-2014 academic year. Those figures are based on a 15-credit load for a full school year.
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