The trade-off is clear - Aaron Katz, Seattle PI

Like most states, Washington remains in a fiscal crisis. Having cut hundreds of millions from the budget last year (the first year of the 2-year 2009-2011 biennial budget), lawmakers used their scalpel again. At the University of Washington, where I work, they excised $16 million from the teaching budget on top of the $114 million they slashed last year. Fewer classes, larger classes, higher tuition (cost shifting from taxpayers to students at a rate of 14% per year), more quarters (thus more tuition) to complete a degree, fewer slots for community college transfer students.