QOTD

[randy_byers]

'Over the past three years, the amount of money the UW receives from the state has fallen 50 percent. ... In the early 1990s, the state Legislature picked up about 80 percent of the cost of educating each student; in 2011, the state will pick up about 30 percent.'

-- Seattle Times, "UW regents set to approve biggest-ever tuition increase"

Comments

[paulcarp]

They have mixed up their yardsticks. If it has fallen 50 percent, it would now by 40 percent. It has, if Times is right, fallen by 50 percentage points, which is a lot more than 50%.

[randy_byers]

Math is hard!

[wrdnrd]

Oh, thank goodness, i thought i was the only one who wondered what they meant by "fallen 50 percent."

[randy_byers]

To be fair to the Times writer, those two sentences are from different paragraphs. They can both be true if it's the case that in the early '90s the state covered 80% of the costs but had reduced coverage to 60% of the costs three years ago. Now it's 30% of costs, which is 50% of what it was three years ago.