The second virtual legislative session in Washington’s history is over, leaving WSOS with much to celebrate! We received more than $8 million in matching dollars for our private donations and garnered nearly unanimous bipartisan support for our bill this session. Thank you to the many lawmakers who helped make bill passage a reality, including our bill sponsor, Rep. Dave Paul, co-sponsor Rep. Matt Boehnke and Rep. Vandana Slatter, for your leadership in the committee. Thanks also to Senators Emily Randall, Marko Liias, Shelley Short and Twin’a Nobels for your support throughout. We are so grateful.

Our bill makes several changes to WSOS, including:

• Allowing us to support students for longer (now five years instead of up to 125% of published program length), helping students who come into college with previous academic credit through Running Start or other programs;
• Using Satisfactory Academic Progress to track a student’s continued eligibility for the sake of efficiency;
• Using the same definition of Washington resident as do other state aid programs to align eligibility with the intent of the statute;
• Supporting apprentices outside of our community college system, bringing access and opportunities to entirely new communities of students;
• Increasing the support we can provide to working nurses by expanding the way we define financial need to encompass factors such as student debt load, a lived experience of being low-income, a reduction of income that will occur while attending school, etc.; and lastly
• Providing rural students and donors confidence that the state will follow through on its commitment to match every private dollar raised.

WSOS staff and our partners are already laying the groundwork to implement these new changes to benefit current and future students. We are so excited to better our existing programming, grow our impact and support more Washington students!  

In addition to ours, several other bills passed this session will significantly benefit Washington students. The timing is critical as Washington, like much of the nation, is amidst a higher education enrollment crisis. Our state was producing fewer graduates with the credentials needed to compete for jobs in our economy before the pandemic. The drop in enrollment has only worsened due to the pandemic’s impacts. Advocates and lawmakers continue to create solutions to remove barriers for Washington students, including:

• A state student loan program that provides student loans at 1% interest, prioritizing low-income borrowers.
• Making the maximum award grant available to students at 60% median family income (up from 50% and providing those students with $500 in annual bridge grants to pay for additional college and living costs.
• A pilot advertising campaign to increase Washington’s FAFSA/WASFA completion rates.
• New challenge grants to be used by community-based career and college collaborations to increase enrollment and close equity gaps.
• Investments in apprenticeships, including money to upgrade equipment; implement remote instruction; support wraparound support services, like transportation and childcare; and create a plan for these programs to earn college credit one day.  

Pictured below: Governor Inslee signing House Bill 1805