Ask the AS President

What are the chances that tuition will be hiked next year?

and

What are the chances that the 7% tuition cap will be lifted?

There's no doubt that tuition will be raised at least 7% next year, as the legislature is mandating all state entities cut costs and the Governor requested in her budget proposal that schools raise tuition 7%. How far beyond that is more up in the air.

The Senate has asked universities to look at the ramifications of cuts around 20% and today in a Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee meeting, President Shepard said that he would like to see a 14% increase in tuition to offset the effects of a cut like that. I have yet to see that video on TVW, but I will post a link to the video as soon as it's online.

It is beginning to look more and more like the cap will be lifted, so I encourage you to check out the Student Senate's Issue of the Month here: http://forum.wwu.edu/node/1446#comment-3113.

You should also comment on this post about the Washington Student Lobby, it has never been more important than now to ensure WWU students are heard in Olympia: http://forum.wwu.edu/node/1837.

How the heck does one get a job with the A.S.?

There are two ways to get a job with the A.S.

The first is to be elected to one of the seven positions on the A.S. Board. The election is held every year at the end of April. Soon, we will be advertising the election and calling for candidates, and you should check out the student government section of the A.S. website at http://www.as.wwu.edu//student-government/index.php to get information on the positions and how the election worked last year.

The second way is to apply at the Personnel Office for one of the many salaried, hourly or work study positions in the organization. We typically hire for the salaried positions for the next year in Spring quarter. Go to http://www.as.wwu.edu//employment/index.php to get information on how to apply as well as currently open positions.

There used to be a printer in the Chemistry Computer lab. Suddenly this quarter it seams it has been removed. Now, when chemistry students need to print we have to walk to some other building on campus to do so. This is especially painful when we are asked to use software like mathematica that is only on certain computers on campus. Added to that headache is having to walk back and forth in order to get help from a professor, then go back to a machine that we can print on, then go back to that professors office to review what we printed.

Rumors surrounding this include "it broke, and there is no money to fix it" and "the chem department is cutting back on their paper costs"...

Can the AS help get a printer set up in the Chem Comp Lab?

It's up in the air as to who is in charge of maintaining departmental computer labs as sources of funding have changed over time. I'm not sure who could help with getting a printer in the Chemistry Computer lab, but I will forward your question on to the AS VP for Academic Affairs as well as people in charge of technology on campus and try to get an answer for you.

Here is Bruce Shepard's testimony from today's committee hearing, he is first but the stuff that is relevant starts at minute four: http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?evid=2009021131&TYPE=V&CFID=1798636&CFTOKEN=76156418&bhcp=1.

He addresses tuition specifically at 18 minutes. When it comes to the income levels of current students, he does not address their families' ability or willingness to help pay for tuition, which has been hurt significantly over the last two decades and even more so in the last year. I addressed those very points at: http://forum.wwu.edu/node/1440#comment-2327.

Go to http://west.wwu.edu/trustees/default.shtml starting at 8:30 and click the link to the right to listen to the Board of Trustees meeting live.