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Not all local political leaders think the WSU takeover of University Center is a good idea.  Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe and Rep. Luis Moscoso weigh in on the subject, suggesting that the WSU proposal does nothing to strengthen educational opportunities and that we must be more focused in the allocation of limited resources.

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The Herald's editorial board thinks much work lies ahead in establishing a trusting relationship between WSU and the other partner institutions at University Center if the larger goal of expanded educational opportunities is to be achieved.

I would ask the Herald's editorial board just exactly why they think any of these partners would participate.  Seriously, these institutions have worked hard to establish these programs and to build up the University Center.  The editorial board would have them give it their all for a couple more years so WSU can create a plan to get rid of them.  Really?  You think that's something they ought to do?  Really?

When it comes to 4-year education in Snohomish county, the Herald's editorial board has completely lost all sense of reason.  

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Jerry Cornfield provides the background on the journey to the get Washington State University to take up residence on the Everett Community College campus with the long term goal of creating a 4-year, degree granting institution here in Snohomish county.  

While the legislation will make the coordinator for the multi-college University Center program at EvCC, there are no solid plans nor funding to move beyond this arrangement.  It seems to me that we risk losing eduction opportunities if the other existing partner colleges pull out of University Center or if the recently announced WGU online university takes hold.

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Peter Thiel is a Pay Pal co-founder thinks we're in a bubble, again, and this time the bubble is education.  He says “A true bubble is when something is overvalued and intensely believed”, noting that you can't question the value of education today.

And if you think about it, our description of education sounds an awful lot like our description of housing a few years ago (and internet stocks a few years before that).  Everyone needs to own property (bachelor's degree).  The value of property (education) never goes down. Borrow the money for property (education) and buy now -- it's an investment.  

Perhaps are problem is that we confuse education - life long learning - with degrees.  While ongoing learning/relearning has never been more critical to individual success, the value proposition of a 4-year degree in the first 4 years after high school becomes ever more questionable.  

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Truly a sad commentary.  The only state education institution that didn't participate in the University Center is the one that will be allowed to run it in the future.  

My favorite quote was "providing new approaches to old problems". Honestly, this providing old approaches to new problems.  But hey, it's only money.  We got plenty of it for post-secondary education.

Sigh ........  

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Danny Westneat doesn't pull any punch in this article about the UW's decision to enroll more out-of-state students. In his opinion, the UW is doing exactly what we asked them to do - to get by with less and less money.

"Sheesh, we weren't even willing to go along with a temporary, 2-cents-per-can tax on soda pop last year. Now we're going to get all indignant when the UW looks to the other 49 states because we're too cheap?"

As Westneat points out, the funding is only going to get worse. The state paid 70% - 80% for the cost for me to attend the UW back in the ... well just you never mind. It's fallen to 45% today and heading south.

Westneat thinks we need to fund education as we had in the past, but I have to wonder if that's possible. It's a lot easier to subsidize 80% of a student's tuition if only 10% of graduating high school seniors go on to college. In a world where k-16 is almost mandatory of the "best paying" jobs, well that's a lot of money.

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Nice letter to the editor of the Everett Herald questioning the value of WSU running the University Center at EvCC.  I don't fully agree that north Snohomish county needs its own university, but her challenges to the idea of a "employer-centric" educational program and the replacement of the University Center with a WSU branch are right on target.

WSU has done nothing to earn that position.  They failed to establish a presence at University Center when all the other universities choose to participate.   

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Everett Herald columnist Julie Muhlstein tries to put a "face" on the UW entrance issue - where students with extremely hight GPA's aren't getting in.  As is often the case, Muhlstein's article seems short on analysis and heavy on drama.

I've got several issues with the article, but my biggest is this sense that the UW is the only university worth going to in this state.  The former student featured couldn't get into the UW, so went out of state.  Huh?  No WSU, no Western, not even Evergreen?  Could have got two years at a local CC then transferred in as a junior.  

The mindset that every kid must go to the UW in the four years following high school graduation absurd.  Elite schools leave good students out, that's what elite means. Sometimes it just a numbers game, too many students chasing too few openings.  

I have little sympathy for the students or parents left out this year.  It won't be the end of their life.

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Ignore the headline and read the article.  After you get past the straight-A kids be left out of the UW and the increase of out-of-state students, the article gets down to some useful information about how funding of our post-secondary education.  

One closing thought.  At the end of the article Rep. Carlyle is quoted about qualified kids not getting into the UW.  This requires some careful consideration.  At some point, an elite public school is going to reject the good kids of tax paying parents. Expectations that everyone can go to the UW are just unrealistic and our government leaders shouldn't encourage that thinking.

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In this editorial, Representatives Dunshee and Hope argue that establishing a branch campus of Washington State University in Everett will allow more of our citizens to get the skills they need to fill 21st century jobs, such as those created by the Air Force refueling tanker deal won recently by Boeing. Without such opportunities, we will continue to bring in talent from other states (and countries).

This is a continuation of the same tired, misleading rhetoric used in the debate for a standalone university, then a branch of the University of Washington.  The topic deserves, and will get get, a full Advisory Bored blog post, but for now let's just focus on the notation that Snohomish county residents aren't getting engineering degrees because of the distance to a college.  Attendance in engineering programs and all of STEM subjects has been dropping across the country for over a decade.  While the slide seems to have hit bottom, programs aren't bursting at the seams just yet.

Hope and Dunshee seem to be taking a "if we build it they will come" attitude.  However, the idea that engineering enrollment will surge merely because of the geographic proximity to a school of engineering is laughable.  Which means that we will stop importing engineers and start importing engineering students.  Oh great!

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