Petition for a Fully Funded Western
Western Union Workers United for a Fully Funded Western
Western Washington University’s unionized workers stand united in demanding a fully funded Western. As faculty, staff, and student workers, we are dedicated to creating “a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement.” To succeed, the state of Washington must fully fund Western Washington University. Western’s promise can only be achieved if there are adequate state appropriations to maintain needed infrastructure, to support teaching and learning, and to ensure that all students and employees can afford rising costs.
Higher Education for All
All Washington high-school graduates should have a pathway to attend and complete college, regardless of their background or family resources. Yet, despite pre-pandemic progress, the state remains far from meeting the Washington Roundtable’s 2016 goal of having 70% of Washington students complete a post-secondary credential.
Just 40% of Washington high-school graduates in the class of 2021 are enrolled in post-secondary education. Across higher education in Washington, low-income, Black, Latino, and Indigenous students continue to be significantly underrepresented.
Western Washington University must serve more students who currently lack access to four-year colleges; our enrollment as of Fall 2023 remains more than 1,500 students below its peak. Investing in student employment, which allows students who work to have the means to live while they attend school, would also create pathways for students who cannot afford higher education. Even as new student enrollments grew in Fall 2022 and 2023, Western became less accessible to low-income students, transfer students, and first-generation students. Only a fully funded Western can serve the current student body, while recruiting and retaining a more diverse set of students in the future.
An Underfunded Western
Western is systemically underfunded. Washington State appropriations lag far behind the national average in per-student spending, and fall woefully short of our Pacific Coast neighbors Alaska, California, and Oregon. Even in this context of Washington, however, state appropriations for Western are anemic. Western receives the least amount of funding per student of any four-year college in Washington State. We received less than $9,000 per student in 2023– more than ten percent less per student than any other four-year Washington institution. On average, Western received $1,200 less per student than Washignton’s community colleges and more than $2,000 less than its four-years.
An underfunded Western cannot deliver fully on its promises. Over the last fifteen years, department-level budgets have regressed in real terms. Faculty and other instructional employees are left with outdated equipment and inadequate support for research, professional development, and other resources needed to do our jobs. Staff members are put in an impossible position: to cut corners and leave projects unfinished at the expense of the entire university community’s safety. Student workers live in subsistence conditions–some live in their cars and eat from food banks–while shouldering increasing operational and instructional responsibility.
An underfunded Western operates at the expense of many workers and students. On campus, debt-financed housing and dining only add to the burdens faced by students, with room and board nearly 18% above national averages. The lowest paid staff–many of whom are essential–are forced to seek government assistance for basic needs like food, despite also seeking additional sources of income. Western’s insufficient wages have not kept pace with the cost of living in Bellingham, making recruitment difficult and retention harder, leading to churn among faculty, staff, and students.
If we want to expand higher education, more tuition is not the answer. Limited accessibility, inadequate resources, and the tuition burden remain the primary obstacles to college completion. Rather, the state legislature must fully fund Western.
Towards A Fully Funded Western
A fully funded Western benefits everyone. For the good of the education the university provides, and the well-being of the workers who make it run, Western must be fully funded. We are calling on the state legislature to appropriate $20 million additional dollars, at a minimum, in base funding as part of Western’s operating budget in the 2024-2026 session. We urge you to prioritize not only the well-being of Bellingham’s educational community, but also that of the state of Washington itself.