$20K Per Year Tuition At UW Projected By 2020: Is it Worth It?

Washington residents could be paying $20,000 a year for tuition at the University of Washington by 2020, according to an actuarial table produced for the state's prepaid tuition program, according to the Associated Press.

The Associated Press reports that the tuition would rise to $20,249 by 2019-20 year, 71 percent higher than the  $11,782 that University of Washington students will pay this coming year.

Those numbers don't include the other costs associated with going to college -- room and board, books and other living expenses.

According to Reuters article from last year, college tuition has outpaced inflation for many years. 

According to a University of Washington Time Schedule from Spring 1997 -- which would have been a few years before I graduated -- full-time student tuition and the student technology fee came to about $5,000 a year (the Time Schedule doesn't show other fees from at the time). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, that would be about $7,200 today.

Officials at the University of Washington told the Associated Press that the biggest factor affecting tuition is the level of state support.

What do you think? Is your family facing having to pay this tuition? What are your plans to cover the costs? And, if you're not in that situation, do you think the state should increase its support for public colleges, or are there other solutions to the rising cost of public college? 

On the web

Associated Press (via Seattle Times): $20K in-state tuition may not be far off in Wash.

*Editor's Note: Venice Buhain is the editor of Bellevue Patch.