UW tuition: What’s behind the rising costs?

Before prices were frozen in the spring, tuition for a year of undergraduate education at the University of Washington had grown at five times the rate of inflation over the last decade — an increase of 150 percent.

That increase is largely due to the state’s sharp budget cutbacks. Washington now funds 31 percent of the cost of a degree; 10 years ago it funded 64 percent.

But two lesser-known factors have also played a role.