Lower tuition is the best aid for state's higher-education students

THE University of Washington is a state institution, although that's getting hard to believe any more. In 1970 the state covered more than 70 percent of the costs associated with a student getting a bachelor's degree. In the '80s that slipped to just 50 percent.

Today the state pays for less than 30 percent of those costs, leaving students to pay for 70 percent of their state education.