Tackling tuition: lawmakers continue to seek ways to help students and families as the costs of college soars.

• Author: Fillion, Roger
• Position: HIGHER EDUCATION

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Austin Wright-Pettibone was walking to lunch last summer in Seattle when he got an email on his phone from a legislative staffer. Wright-Pettibone, a junior chemical engineering major at the University of Washington, had been lobbying the Legislature on behalf of the university's student union. He and others appealed to lawmakers to pass a budget that would cut tuition at the state's four-year colleges and universities

"We got it!" the email read. Wright-Pettibone was "so relieved and happy, I cried," he says. "It was the hallmark of what could be done in Washington state in higher education. I really hope this will start a conversation and lead to action in other statehouses."

The tuition rollback passed by the Legislature shaved 5 percent off tuition this year. For Wright-Pettibone, it was "the first year I haven't had to take out loans to go to school." Next year, when the largest cuts kick in, he'll save $1,611.

"I've been able to cut back on my working hours so I can now spend more time in the lab, which is preparing me to go to graduate school."

Looking for Answers

Students like Wright-Pettibone and their families aren't the only ones grappling with ever-escalating college tuition costs. So, too, are state legislators.

Crafting higher education finance policy is tricky, however. In effect, legislatures have three policy levers at their disposal: tuition, general appropriations and financial aid. Pulling one lever can often affect the other two. So it's wise to consider how changes affect all three simultaneously.

No state has yet developed a comprehensive solution that keeps tuition costs under control and makes it possible for less well-off students to attend college. But efforts abound.

States have temporarily frozen or capped tuitions. Kansas lawmakers did so last year. Tennessee and Oregon offer free community college. Missouri ties tuition to the consumer price index. New York and South Carolina offer students tax credits for their tuition. Maryland uses corporate tax revenue for a tuition stabilization fund. And Illinois requires universities to offer a fixed tuition plan that guarantees a single annual tuition rate for the four years it should take to earn a degree.

There's always the desire to find the perfect solution, but "I don't think anyone has a silver-bullet answer," to slowing tuition rates, says Minnesota Representative Jim Knoblach (R), who chairs the Ways and Means Committee."

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Tuition at public four-year institutions has risen faster than inflation every year since 1980. Since 1990, the national tuition average at public four-year institutions has skyrocketed more than 160 percent after adjusting for inflation. At two-year institutions, the national tuition average has doubled on a real basis.

Put another way, the national average for tuition at public four-year institutions jumped by $5,653--to $9,139 in 2014-15 from $3,486 in 1990-91. At public twoyear institutions, the national average tuition increased by $1,692--to $3,347 from $1,655 during the same period.

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Yet there's an economic argument to be made for keeping college affordable, says Oregon Senator Mark Hass (D), a major proponent of his state's free community college program. Students can gain vital skills needed to operate in today's economy--and avoid standing in the unemployment line or living off food stamps.

"Poverty is expensive to all of us. When someone escapes poverty we're all better off," says Hass, who chairs the Finance and Revenue Committee.

More Than State Cuts

What's fueling the increase? Take your pick. Many blame cuts in state funding. (Federal aid goes mostly to...