U. of Washington Cuts Hundreds of Jobs

As state legislatures finish writing their budgets in the coming weeks, public colleges will begin to deal with the effects of vast cuts.

That’s the case in Washington State, where lawmakers had to close a $9-billion revenue shortfall for the 2010 and 2011 budget years. Even with the infusion of federal stimulus money, they slashed about $500-million from higher-education appropriations, including a cut of $73-million from the University of Washington.

Yesterday the university’s president, Mark A. Emmert, detailed its response, as reported in The Seattle Times. About 600 to 800 positions would be eliminated, mostly through attrition, and some administrative units would be cut by as much as 16 percent. The College of Arts and Sciences is to absorb the largest dollar-amount cut, $10.5-million, a 9-percent reduction.

The university is offsetting some of the state cuts by raising undergraduate tuition by 14 percent for each of the next two years, Mr. Emmert said on his blog.

“This dramatic reduction in state support signals a fundamental change in our relationship with the state,” Mr. Emmert wrote. “For the first time in our history, tuition revenue will exceed state support.”