OLYMPIA — A bill guaranteeing full‑ride college tuition for all foster youth and students who experienced homelessness passed both legislative chambers and now awaits the governor’s signature to become law.
The students who qualify are foster youths ages 13 and older and others who experienced homelessness in the year before college. These students already qualify for the Washington College Grant, which covers full‑ride tuition. They must complete the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that determines a student’s eligibility for aid based on their family income, to receive those funds. This bill waives that requirement.
In both the Senate and House chambers, the bill received nearly unanimous support.
“Some of our most vulnerable students and kids could use a little help and I think this would go a long ways to support that effort,” Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, said on the House floor.
Joel Anderson, a lobbyist for the Washington Student Achievement Council, said the goal is to help these students stop assuming college is out of reach or unaffordable.
“It just allows students to think differently about what’s out there for them,” he said.
No action must be taken by students to receive or renew the funds, which pay for up to six years, or 18 quarters, of full-time education.
“Being able to walk into a junior high classroom and say, ‘you are guaranteed tuition at UW when you want to go, or you’re guaranteed tuition at Evergreen State College, or any community college,’” Anderson said, “I think that is a very powerful statement for us to be able to make.”
The impact will be realized in the future, he said, when those middle and high school students apply to colleges knowing they have the Washington College Grant in store.
College students receiving the Washington College Grant who were formerly foster youth, as well as mentors of those groups, testified in support of the bill in hearings in January and February. Such guarantees provide a real opportunity for youth to break cycles of poverty through their education, they said.
The same group of students are eligible for the federally administered Pell Grant, which can support housing costs. Washington state’s Passport to Careers program also provides $2,000 annually for housing, food, and other basic needs. Students must fill out the FAFSA to receive these funds.
WSAC will spread the word, Anderson said. The council will alert social workers in the foster care system, high school advisors and counselors, and anyone working with the population of students who can benefit.
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