The legislature enacted the college bound scholarship program in 2007 to encourage all Washington students to dream big by creating a guaranteed four-year tuition scholarship program for students from low-income families. The legislature finds the program has been successful in achieving this goal. A report by the Washington state institute for public policy found that the scholarship increases high school graduation rates, probability of on-time college enrollment, college persistence, and college graduation rates. However, more than one quarter of eligible students are unable to access the scholarship by failing to sign the pledge required by the program. The legislature finds that the pledge has become an unintended barrier to entry, a problem made more acute as students are receiving their education remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic and have less access to school teachers, counselors, and peers. Therefore, the legislature intends with this act to remove the pledge as an eligibility requirement while retaining the requirement that students maintain a "C" average and avoid serious interactions with the criminal justice system for four years. In order to ensure that the legislature will fulfill its promise to provide a scholarship upon graduation, the legislature intends by this act to create a statutory contractual right for students who fulfill scholarship requirements that vests when the student becomes first eligible for the scholarship.
This section modifies existing section 28B.118.040. Here is the modified chapter for context.
The office of student financial assistance shall:
With the assistance of the office of the superintendent of public instruction, implement and administer the Washington college bound scholarship program;
Develop effective methods to notify eligible students of their enrollment in the Washington college bound scholarship program and the requirements of RCW 28B.118.010;
Develop and implement a process for scholarships, which includes working with other state agencies, law enforcement, or the court system to verify that eligible students do not have felony convictions;
Annually in March, with the assistance of the office of the superintendent of public instruction, distribute to tenth grade eligible students and their families: (a) Notification that, to qualify for the scholarship, a student's family income may not exceed sixty-five percent of the state median family income at graduation from high school; (b) the current year's value for sixty-five percent of the state median family income; and (c) a statement that a student should consult their school counselor if their family makes, or is projected to make, more than this value before the student graduates;
Develop comprehensive social media outreach with grade-level specific information designed to keep students on track to graduate and leverage current tools such as the high school and beyond plan required by the state board of education and the ready set grad website maintained by the student achievement council;
Track scholarship recipients to ensure continued eligibility and determine student compliance for awarding of scholarships;
Within existing resources, collaborate with college access providers and K-12, postsecondary, and youth-serving organizations to map and coordinate mentoring and advising resources across the state;
Subject to appropriation, deposit funds into the state educational trust fund;
Purchase tuition units under the advanced college tuition payment program in chapter 28B.95 RCW to be owned and held in trust by the office of student financial assistance, for the purpose of scholarship awards as provided for in this section; and
Distribute scholarship funds, in the form of tuition units purchased under the advanced college tuition payment program in chapter 28B.95 RCW or through direct payments from the state educational trust fund, to institutions of higher education on behalf of scholarship recipients identified by the office, as long as recipients maintain satisfactory academic progress.
This act does not affect any existing right acquired or liability or obligation incurred under the sections amended or repealed or under any rule or order adopted under those sections, nor does it affect any proceeding instituted under those sections.
The legislature intends this act to be curative, remedial, and retroactively apply to seventh grade students beginning with the 2019-20 school year.