$1.4 million at stake for state work study at Seattle U

As part of an effort to close Washington's $2.6 billion budget gap, Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed a suspension of the state work study program this month, drawing concern and opposition from students and faculty statewide.


The suggestion came as part Gregoire's second 2010 budget proposal and would suspend the work study program for one year. Approximately 9,400 Washington students are currently employed in work study positions, which accounts for $23.5 million dollars of the state budget.

During the 2008-2009 academic year, 392 students at Seattle University were enrolled in the program and the university received more than $1.4 million in state work study funds. According to Student Financial Services director Janet Cantelon, most state funds are matched by private employers, bringing the total income for Seattle U students to more than $2 million a year in need-based wages.


Nearly 67 percent of the state's work study recipients come from families who earn less than half of the median family income in Washington state, roughly $39,000 annually for a family of four.


The current proposal restored many cuts included in the governor's previous forecasts. Gregoire plans to generate about $100 million in additional funds by closing tax loopholes and an additional $500 million from the federal government.

In a letter to the state legislature Jan. 12, Gregoire referred to her first proposal in December, which proposed greater concessions from need-based aid. She referred to the proposal as "not a budget I can live with nor is it one I believe Washingtonians can live with."


The first proposal would have cut more than $146 million from the State Need Grant, which goes to students from families earning 70 percent or less than the median income. 

According to Jeffrey Powell, assistant director of Student Financial Assistance for the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), the cuts would have deep and long-lasting effects for students, institutions and the state in general.

Concerned students across the state have begun organizing to change the proposal, both by contacting individual legislators and by lobbying in Olympia.

Representatives with the Washington Student Association are organizing to lobby in Olympia and encouraging students to contact individual legislators.

"This issue is so personal […] and people have compelling stories," said Sarah Reyneveld, vice president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate at the University of Washington.


Reyneveld is working to organize a lobbying day on which students would visit the capitol to testify and share their opposition to the proposal.


The cuts would be particularly difficult for graduate students, Powell added, as work study is the only form of need-based financial aid offered to Washington's graduate and professional students by the state.


"I think it's going to be devastating if it goes through," said Kathleen Koch, assistant dean for Student Financial Services at the School of Law. "It's going to be a ripple effect of unknown proportions."


The HECB believes that a yearlong suspension of work study would likely result in higher dropout rates, increased loan debt and lower participation from private employers.


While the board hopes to see no cuts to the program, it would prefer a reduction in funding rather than a full suspension. This, Powell said, would avoid jeopardizing the program's future by not breaking ties with employers or allowing financial aid offices to shrink in the interim.


For many lawmakers in Olympia, a suspension of student work study is the only option available for the state.


"Nobody wants to see cuts in financial aid," said Leslie Goldstein, executive policy adviser for Gregoire. "It's just a question of what you do and how you balance [the budget],"
Goldstein added that the governor hopes to reach a consensus with legislators in order to pass a reformed budget by the end of this legislative session.

"There's an effort to work bipartisanly and across the aisle," Goldstein said. "She [Gov. Gregoire] works with the legislature to create a budget that they can pass and she can sign."


The state legislature's 60-day regular session ends March 11, at which time they are required to pass a revised budget.

Seamus may be reached at smckeon@su-spectator.com