Budget cuts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic caused merit raises for non-union represented faculty and professional staff at UW to be excluded from the fiscal year 2021 (FY21) budget. Classified staff contracts are negotiated separately with the university by union collective bargaining. Seattle’s high cost of living continued to be a problem during the pandemic. As per The Seattle Times and the Council for Community and Economic Research, Seattle is the sixth-most expensive U.S. city, with the average cost of rent for a Seattle apartment totaling $2,595 — nearly 20% above the national average.
https://www.dailyuw.com/news/governance/article_1be09460-50e9-11ec-b16d-6b2b9e345ae8.html
