Transforming Washington state begins with our “why”
WSOS is the first public-private scholarship program dedicated to building lasting pathways to post-secondary education and high-demand STEM and trade careers for all Washington students. We accelerate equitable change for historically excluded students and increase the local talent pool for Washington businesses.
Mission
Transform Washington state by building pathways to high-demand jobs that strengthen our communities and economy.
Vision
Our story: Why was WSOS created?
In the early 2010s, a group of government leaders in Olympia identified the challenge of an acute shortage of qualified workers in STEM and health care fields. To address this issue, then-Governor Christine Gregoire created the Higher Education Funding Task Force made up of government, corporate, education, and community leaders. Chaired by Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, the Task Force was charged with addressing two problems: (1) the barriers Washington students face in accessing postsecondary education, especially in high-demand fields like STEM, including the rising cost of college; and (2) the urgent need for businesses across the state to hire skilled workers to keep their talent pipelines strong.
After months of collaboration, the Task Force released a report recommending a new approach of a public-private partnership to fund higher education and promote a stronger, skilled workforce. This led to bipartisan support for the Opportunity Scholarship Act and the creation of Washington State Opportunity Scholarship (WSOS). A first-of-its-kind public-private partnership with the state of Washington, every dollar raised by WSOS is matched by the state. In 2011, Microsoft and Boeing each invested $25 million and became the first Cornerstone Partners of WSOS. A few years later, the Rubens Family Foundation donated $20 million, and the Ballmer Group contributed $11 million to become the other Cornerstone Partners. In 2021, the Cornerstone Partners all recommitted their investment to WSOS, ensuring that the next generation of Washington students can receive support.
- The first cohort of Baccalaureate Scholars was selected in 2012, supporting students pursuing high-demand STEM and health care bachelor’s degrees at universities and colleges across Washington state. Since then, our impact has grown:
- In 2019, we launched the Career & Technical Scholarship for students pursuing trades and applied STEM at community and technical colleges at Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges. In 2020, WSOS launched the Rural Jobs Initiative to increase financial aid to address unique challenges facing Career & Technical Scholars living in rural areas.
- In 2021, the Graduate Scholarship was selected, supporting students pursuing advanced nursing degrees and aiming to increase the number of nurse practitioners providing health care in medically underserved areas.
While WSOS has made a significant impact, including serving more than 22,000 students from all 39 counties of Washington, our mission is critical now more than ever to expand access to high-demand careers while building a stronger, more equitable economy for our state.
We know WSOS works.
Students that go through our program are ready to enter high-demand fields, and businesses are eager to hire them. Most Baccalaureate Scholarship graduates earn nearly $100K a year. Career and Technical Scholarship graduates earn four times what their families earned at the time of their application. After more than 10 years, we can clearly see the impact on students, businesses, and communities across Washington State.
We recognize systemic barriers.
WSOS recognizes the educational and socio-economic inequalities that exist throughout Washington state. We acknowledge that systemic barriers, institutional racism, and poverty exist—disproportionally affecting historically excluded communities. We are passionate about reducing barriers for Scholars from diverse backgrounds.
We believe in building more diverse industries.
Innovative industries thrive when they reflect the communities where they’re based. We work to ensure that the college-to-career pipeline creates opportunities for women and students of color. Our diverse population of Scholars is thriving and finding success in their careers and in their communities and are building more inclusive STEM, health care, and trades fields.
We believe Opportunity Scholars are the solution to the workforce shortage in Washington.
Washington needs Opportunity Scholars. We have far too few health care providers to meet demand even in normal circumstances, and we need more scientists, researchers, and technology innovators to meet the needs of our state now and in the years to come. As we work to solve the workforce crisis, our Scholars will be the ones who keep the lights on, our agriculture businesses thriving, our science innovating and our tech sector powering solutions to our world’s most challenging problems.
The values that guide our work
Scholars are our North Star
We prioritize what’s best for Scholars in the long-term.
People are our greatest asset:
Being human-centric means seeing the whole person, creating space where people feel valued, and unlocking people’s potential to do their best work.
Impact isn’t by chance:
We set bold goals centered on the mission and are strategic about how we focus our time, energy, and resources. We believe high-performance matters for Scholars, and we hold ourselves and others accountable.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are superpowers:
We have a responsibility to equitably serve diverse Scholars, and we know diverse perspectives make us powerful. We value transparency – up, down, and laterally – because it’s a key lever to drive equitable decision-making.
Seek excellence:
We strive for best-in-class outcomes, not perfection, because our Scholars and team members are worth the effort.
Be respectful, courageous, and honest:
We say the hard thing, ask the hard question, and make the hard decision in service of our mission.
Iterate to great:
We create a space built on trust where people can think creatively, voice their opinions, and create the conditions for our highest and best impacts.
We is greater than me:
We believe in personal empowerment and accountability – own your decisions and their impact. We seek to understand individual perspectives, but we serve the collective.
Keeping equity at the forefront
WSOS is committed to establishing an equitable pathway for future trade, STEM, and health care leaders. WSOS affirms the intersectionality of people’s identities. We use an equity lens in all aspects of our work to empower our Scholars.
WSOS recognizes that socio-economic burdens and benefits are not distributed equitably. Systemic barriers of intolerance, discrimination, and social injustice are deeply rooted in history and impact our state’s historically excluded communities. We challenge ourselves and our partners to dismantle these barriers on behalf of our Scholars.
WSOS is uniquely funded by the state with a dollar-for-dollar match, private donations, sponsors, and the
Cornerstone Partners below.
Want to support STEM and health care in Washington state? Visit our Get Involved page.
