WA GOP Leaders Say Lower Tuition Better Than Loan Forgiveness

Washington State GOP leaders have responded to Joe Biden's idea to forgive billions in student loan debt by saying lower tuition would have prevented much of it.

  State Senator John Braun points to historic lower tuition programs in State

A few sessions ago in the WA State Legislature, when Republicans controlled the Senate, several programs were passed as well as tuition freezes at public state-run universities.

Braun issued a statement Thursday saying in part:

“No amount of spin from President Biden and others can make this bailout fair for working people who couldn’t afford to go to college and those who already paid their own way. It also does absolutely nothing to increase access to higher education going forward."

   He went on to say:

“Students wouldn’t rack up as much debt if tuition was lower. When Republicans led the state Senate we immediately reprioritized spending to freeze in-state tuition at the state-run two- and four-year schools. Two years later we successfully proposed the first tuition cut in Washington history, and the only tuition reduction in the nation. But since one-party rule returned to Olympia our Democratic colleagues have had other priorities, and tuition is climbing again."

  For example, at Washington State, during the tuition freeze, the cost of attending WSU only rose by 0.26, 0.35, and 0.11 percent during the years 2015-16 through 2018-189.  Those increases were logistical and non-tuition costs. That's a total increase of 0.72 percent over three academic years.

    However, according again to figures from the website collegetuitioncompare.com,  since the 'return' of the one-party rule referenced by Senator Braun, WSU costs have climbed 5.6 percent total from 2019-2020 til now.