OLYMPIA — The Washington state Senate has passed a bill to cut tuition at public colleges in the state.
After a bipartisan 37-12 vote Wednesday, Senate Bill 5954 moves to the House for consideration. If it becomes law, it would fix tuition at state schools to a percentage of the average wage for Washington workers. Tuition would be highest at the state’s two research universities, Washington State University and the University of Washington. Other state universities and community colleges would have their tuition rates set to lower percentages of the state’s average wage.
The bill’s lead sponsor, Republican Sen. John Braun of Centralia, said money can be found in the state’s $37 billion budget to cover the cost of tuition cuts, estimated to fall somewhere between $112 million and $232 million.
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