facility. Even with those anomalies, operating revenues have been rising fairly consistently over the past three years, except in Student Activities, which is mostly fee driven—and there have been few fee increases in this area.
Total Revenues – Operating Funds By revenue type
Total Revenues - Operating Funds (in '000's)
- 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000
Net Tuition State Allotment
Other Fees
Enterprise Student Activities Fees
FY17 (Actual)
FY18 (Actual)
FY19 (Forecast)
FY20 (Budget)
Tuition
Tuition accounts for almost half of the revenues needed to cover core activities in the State and Tuition Fund. Over the years, tuition policy at the state level has varied widely. During the Great Recession the Legislature expected universities to cover major cuts to the state operating allotment with increases to tuition, resulting in four consecutive years of 14-percent tuition increases. Then the legislature froze tuition for two years because tuition had increased to the point that it became politically uncomfortable. In 2015, the legislature rewrote tuition policy in order to reset the balance between state and tuition funding. The new policy reduced tuition at regional institutions 20 percent over the biennium, and provided a corresponding “backfill” of the lost tuition revenue. All future tuition increases were restricted to a rate no more than the 14-year average of wage inflation in Washington state, which has been between 2.2 percent and 2.4 percent. The following shows some history on tuition changes. In those years where there were zero percent changes, there was no additional state funding provided to cover inflationary pressures; they were absorbed by the university.
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