I was surprised (well, maybe I shouldn't have been) that there was an arguement on the cliff from an elite research university alum, which aside from federal research grants and perhaps international students, may not be as affected as others.
I do know that the UW system had to fill some big holes in its budget for all of the schools. The state had to close a $16 billion budget shortfall and higher ed took a brunt. Western Washington lost $8 million, which is a lot for a small public. They also cut the state college grant eligibility to 60% of the median income. Also, a lot of the burder for the annual raises for higher ed employees has been moved to the institutions and not the state. UW and Wazoo also faced pretty significant cuts from them.
At CWU - we lost our highly ranked varsity rugby programs, and a lot of cuts came from student activites, publications, and clubs.
We've lost 3,000 students from 2019 to 2023, and in the 2024 academic year lost another 300. Trends are hopefully up but we built and budgeted on an 11,000+ student body and back in 2019, and now....
I do know that the UW system had to fill some big holes in its budget for all of the schools. The state had to close a $16 billion budget shortfall and higher ed took a brunt. Western Washington lost $8 million, which is a lot for a small public. They also cut the state college grant eligibility to 60% of the median income. Also, a lot of the burder for the annual raises for higher ed employees has been moved to the institutions and not the state. UW and Wazoo also faced pretty significant cuts from them.
At CWU - we lost our highly ranked varsity rugby programs, and a lot of cuts came from student activites, publications, and clubs.
We've lost 3,000 students from 2019 to 2023, and in the 2024 academic year lost another 300. Trends are hopefully up but we built and budgeted on an 11,000+ student body and back in 2019, and now....