First, for those who do not know, Ed Lazowska is a state treasure. Under his leadership, UW Comp Sci is a critical part of the local entrepreneurial environment that makes "us" (western Washington) a hot competitor in information sciences. Companies are started here because of the Comp Sci Dept.
Folks like Ed bring in research funds far in excess of their own salaries, including industrial funds, to do types of research that are done better on campus then inside a company. This may surprise conservatives but the business environment, of necessity, is very flexible. That flexibility makes it difficult for a corporate scientist (or even an executive) to build the sort of expertise we have at the UW. Another difference is that the freedom of research in a University often means that an academic expert may have a very different and broader perspective than he corporate colleague.
Bottom line: UW is a bargain!
Second, many parts of the UW are funded very much like a "private school." At the level Ed works , the UW and Harvard or MIT compete toe to toe for Fed. funding and Industrial finds. Moreover, Professor Lazowska's position is actually funded by ab endowment provided by Microsoft. Harvard is as much a "public" school as UW is. Would WA state be better off if the UW had Harvard' or MIT's endowment? Of course. In fact, President Emmert was hired and is paid a very high salary because he is very talented at raising exactly that sort of private money.
In effect, the state finding makes it possible for UW students to benefit from a remarkable environment that rivals, and in some case equals or even exceeds, Harvard or MIT despite their huge endowments.
Third, the UW. as a "research" school can bot be compared with "teaching" schools like SPU, PLU, Seattle Univ., etc A student attending any of these teaching oriented schools simply can not get a nationally or internationally recognized education at the level served by areas of the UW such a Comp Sci, or physics, or Mol. Biology, etc. Nor is this advantage of the UW restricted to the sciences. The concept of a research university is to offer an environment where faculty can pursue an academic subject at a level that is not possible at a non research environment.
That faculty member, in turn, becomes a resource to 'teach" WA state kids at that same high level. Examples I know of at the UW have included students "studying" by working with a Prof on developing new uses of magnetic resonance to diagnose mental illness, learning how to find the sources used by French writers to develop the modern novel, participating in design of a computer that recognizes peoples faces, learning accounting with a Prof. whose specialty is helping national governments develop accounting systems, studying music composition with a world renowned composer, etc. etc.
WA sate is fortunate in having many excellent "teaching schools" as well as our two research universities.This includes some of the schools others have listed here as well our really fine a=state colleges. I often recommend that a student go to lone of these campuses rather than the UW if the student does not need the advanced courses at the UW.
While I am agreeing with the Shark, I wonder how he would feel if the student body at UW and WSU were smaller and more kids went to the 4 years sate colleges or private schools. This is one reason I oppose the "branch campus" concept. Somehow I suspect that many of the folks at SP would be upset at the increase in per student costs that would arise if the uW did this, even though the per student cost across the State would decrease.
Fourth, Sound Politics readers need to understand that the UW offers many subjects and levels of education none of the state colleges or private schools offer. For example, the UW school of medicine is arguably the number one national school for training physicians interested in primary care. Despite this prestige, , the cost of UWMS to the WA state taxpayer is no more than the cost to taxpayers in states with less prestigious med/ schools. Where does the difference come from? Grant income!
Even if you add in the State contribution to a med..education, the total cost of an education at the UW Med School os far below that of any comparable private school as well a being qualitatively better than most. How is this possible? Much of the UW faculty are funded by research finds, usually form the government. While, in theory, there are accounting mechanisms that try to distribute costs, in the real world the quality of our education would go down hugely of we did not have such a faculty so successful in getting grant funds .
Again the UW is a true bargain.
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