Tuition waiver draws support, dissent

The Evergreen State College hopes to offer free tuition through a new program for Shelton High School graduates starting with the Class of 2025, according to a presentation Evergreen President John Carmichael and Director of Government Relations Sandy Kaiser gave Mason County commissioners Jan. 8.

Carmichael said the college is seeking legislative funding.

Evergreen is asking for $285,000 to fund the program’s first year and estimates the total for four years will be $3.5 million.

“If we get that legislative funding we would first make that offer for the Shelton graduating Class of 2025 and try it out for a couple of years to see how that works,” Carmichael said.

Kaiser said Gov. Jay Inslee has already included $738,000 for the first two years of funding in his recommended budget.

She also said state Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, was “totally on board.”

When MacEwen was a state House member in 2017, he co-sponsored HB 2221 that proposed pulling state money from Evergreen over May 2017 protests at the college that saw its president held hostage by students and a professor told to leave campus for his own safety after objecting to white students being asked to leave and white professors being asked not to teach their classes for a day.

Benjamin Boyce, an Evergreen graduate, made a series of 24 videos about the protests called “The Complete Evergreen Story.”

Boyce told the Journal conservative students would have a hard time at Evergreen.

“They are no longer a color-blind school. They focus on race,” he said.

Hard science at the college is “really excellent” and students could get a great STEM education if they can make it through the ideology on campus, he said.

Commissioner Kevin Shutty told the Journal he supported the Shelton Promise program because we should be supporting all paths to higher education in Washington and in rural communities such as Shelton.

“Shelton Promise is a pilot program that would reduce one of the top barriers facing kids who may want to pursue college — cost,” Shutty said. “Keeping kids close to home for college will also hopefully lead them back to Shelton for work and to raise families, returning that investment in our community. As a teacher myself, I’m often reminded of a version of an old adage: ‘those who can, teach; those who cannot, make laws about teaching.’ Too often, we let politics dictate outcomes for students and as a county commissioner, I don’t have time for legislation more interested in garnering social media likes than improving outcomes for students. I do have time, however, for programs that invest directly in opportunities for kids in Mason County, like Shelton Promise,” Shutty said.

Commissioner Sharon Trask also gave thumbs-up to the program and told the Journal she wants to see more students finish high school with high GPAs and go on to college or technical school.

“I would love to see other colleges and universities offer this program to our students. I will be very interested in seeing the outcomes of this effort and to see what the students do with this opportunity,” Trask said.

“We’ve had really a lot of interest from folks in the Shelton community excited about being the first to try this place-based scholarship approach,” Kaiser said.

One community group not excited is Take Back Mason County.

Secretary/Treasurer Krystal Wilford told the Journal money for the program “has to come from somewhere.”

Wilford said she doesn’t like the idea of free college in general, but especially Evergreen State.

“I am not a fan of Evergreen State College and I don’t think anyone should consider it a desirable educational option.” She said.

Shelton resident Kevin Soper agreed.

“Nothing is free, and when something is touted as ‘free’ we all end up paying for it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s for a good cause or a bad one, and this is a bad one. No, Shelton students shouldn’t be sent to a far-left, liberal college when Shelton is a red town,” Soper told the Journal.