The more gas you consume, the more you will pay in gas tax. So, if you have an SUV, you’ll end up paying more. If you’re a heavy driver (lots of miles), you’ll pay more.

Let’s assume you drive 10,000 miles a year. At 20 mpg (which is generous for an SUV) that’s 500 gallons of gas per year. At $0.49 per gallon tax, that’s $245 dollars per year.

Let’s say you drive 12,000 miles per year at 17 mph (perhaps better assumptions), that’s $345 per year, closer to your estimate.

A Prius driver doing 10,000 miles per year pays $117, less than an EV.

So, perhaps it feels unfair to you because you drive a lot or get low gas mileage. If you drove something more efficient, you would be more in line with the EV surcharge. I think it’s unfair to say that the EV charge is unfair because it doesn’t align with your consumption.

A midsized SUV, why?

What do you drive?

$150 for EVs. I pay over $400 a year in gas tax, that is not an equal share.

Agreed!

Being a conspiracy theory believer/promoter is not being controversial…it’s being ignorant. Good riddance

No. The world is better off without ignorant assholes like him. Stop celebrating stupidity

Ev drivers pay a multi hundred surcharge on their annual tabs to account for that, so they’re paying their share into the system.

Hopefully they would actually phase out the gas tax and not drag out during an indefinite transition period.

Love Coach Leach, had the time for everyone.

Mike Leach was a horrible person - we really don't need any more people like him, even if they are really good football coaches.

Makes sense, more and more EVs are on the roads nowadays, without that gas tax money, there needs to be some way to pay for those roads.

Beautiful picture, swing on down to the real quincy one of these days and get some shots of our lakes if you are ever in the area!

Wow, I had no idea.

Only 2,625'? Mountains are definitely a sometimes thing in WA, huh?

My hometown back East (ie: NC) was at 3,333' and we weren't even the tallest incorporated town in the county (it was at 5,506').

Jokes aside, I went through Waterville this past April. The the passes closed unexpectedly due to the late snow storm on my way back West from camping at Steamboat Rock SP, but Snoqualmie closed first, so we were heading for Stevens. The winds were pretty extreme and were causing a decorative trim piece on the roof on my motorhome to flap loudly. I ended up parking next to the hedge at the Exxon station in order to climb on the roof and investigate, .. so that if the wind blew me off I'd at least land on something slightly forgiving.

Beautiful area. The drive on US 2 from Coulee City is impressive. Loads of glacial erratics. Nice descent to Orondo down that canyon, too.

There is a Starbucks 3min from this spot he could have just come from there

Traffic jam caused the slow speed, me being a passenger in the car made this a safe pic

It's a good idea. University of Washington is a great school, and you have a ton of top tech employers in the area. Cost of living is high but not as bad as Silicon Valley.

But honestly I'd say keep your options open. Find the programs and professors that interest you first, and see where you get the best match. You'll only be in the program for a few years, so you're not making a lifetime commitment to a region.

Considered any schools internationally?

That too!

... or get a job where employer will help pay for the masters.

I mean, UW is a fantastic school for computer engineering, so it's certainly not a terrible idea. That said, state schools with out of state tuition can be very pricey. With an undergrad in computer engineering you have a solid shot at finding a good job here even without a masters, so if I were you I'd try to do that, put money in savings, and then if you still want to get your masters try to do it at UW in a couple years after you've got some savings to live on and you qualify for in-state tuition.

UW is a great school, and there are a bunch of tech companies (Microsoft, Boeing, Google, Meta, Amazon…) that hire UW grads and show up in job fairs etc. I’d check that out, and UW is in Seattle as an added bonus

Mike Leach was controversial, no doubt. He had his way of doing things, and was stubborn about it. Honestly, I think a lot of people I know could learn about having a backbone from him.

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I'm just going to disagree with this. The man said and did shitty things. I'm not a fan.

Yeah I think it's a bit off to just skim over all of his shitty conspiracy theories just because he was a good football coach.