Senate committee hears that Washington 'fund split' shifts costs to students, straining campuses

Melissa Beard, director of legislative affairs for the Council of Presidents, told the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee that a long‑standing budgeting practice known as the "fund split" has shifted recurring compensation and central‑services costs from the state to tuition, producing budget shortfalls and service cuts across Washington's public higher education sector.

Beard briefed the committee during a March 17 work session on how the fund split emerged after the Great Recession and how it affects each public institution differently. "Historically, the state assumed 100% of operating and central services costs for institutions and tuition was used to meet emerging academic and support needs of students," Beard said. "This fund split practice is not in law or written down, it is a budgeting practice."

The fund split divides the cost of compensation and central services between state appropriations and tuition revenue. Beard said the split varies across the sector—from roughly 60% state…