Boot the slackers out

Gov. Gary Locke signed a bill into law last spring forcing public universities in the state to form policies concerning students who are in school. Among the suggested actions to be taken is a tuition surcharge for students who have more than 125 percent of the credits required for their graduation. Here at UW, that means once seniors reach 225 credits, they will be paying a higher price for tuition. I commend Locke for signing the bill, as well as the bipartisan state Congress that passed it.

Washington is becoming overcrowded. We see the effects every fall in the dorms, when students are sleeping in dorm basements and lofts or being forced to commute rather than live on the campus. Overcrowding in classes is becoming a problem, and the line at Subway around lunchtime is atrocious.

The bill affects not only students who have too many credits, but also students who remain on academic probation for extended periods of time and those who drop too many courses, taking away spots that would have otherwise been available to students who are more serious about their education.

Students may not realize that we already do not pay our full tuition. Only 50 percent of the cost of our education is covered by our tuition. The state and federal governments pay the remaining half of our tuition. With Washington's current budget crunch, the taxpayers in this state simply cannot afford to subsidize the education of career students.

At 45 credits a year, students will not reach 225 credits until the end of their fifth year of school. There is simply no good reason for students to burden the taxpayers with six years of schooling. Problems like traffic and failing public schools need to be addressed, and resources need to be spent to solve them. Instead, we are wasting money on students who have been too lazy to figure out what they want at this university, achieve those goals and be on their way.

Certainly, there are students who, due to extenuating circumstances, ought to have some forum for petition, and the bill has left room for each university to make a policy of its own. But cases of Running Start students and the few other exceptions aside, a general policy that discourages career students by charging them the burden previously laid on the taxpayers is a step in the right direction.