FUND COLLEGE TUITION AID, WHICHEVER SCHOOLS STUDENTS CHOOSE
EDITORIALS
KEVIN CLARK / THE SEATTLE TIMES, 2025
With recent budget decisions, state lawmakers are sending mixed messages about higher education, writes the editorial board.
Pictured is a college campus.
With recent budget decisions, state lawmakers are sending mixed messages about higher education, writes the editorial board.
Pictured is a college campus.
Budgets are moral documents, dollars-and-cents depictions of priorities and values. By that logic, it’s hard to sit comfortably with a spending plan that dings lower-income students attending private colleges more than those at state schools.
But that’s what lawmakers did last year. Facing down a deficit of more than $7 billion, they slashed tuition aid awarded through two programs: the Washington College Grant and the College Bound Scholarship.
Those cuts are scheduled to take effect this fall.
But lawmakers did not squeeze all students equally.
Those attending the University of Washington and other public institutions can get their tuition covered annually through the Washington College Grant if their family incomes qualify.
But students enrolling at private schools — like Gonzaga or Pacific Lutheran University — who used to get a flat rate of about $9,700, will see their grants cut by a third, to $6,500.
Simultaneously, the College Bound Scholarship — which taps low-income kids in middle school and promises up to six years of higher education funding if they maintain decent marks — would be cut by nearly half for students enrolling in private institutions.
Talk about mixed messages.
Washington says education is the state’s paramount duty.
Business leaders, who see a knowledgeable workforce as essential to the economy, have been beating the bushes to get more high school graduates enrolled in college or career training, especially those from low-income families. And Gov.
Bob Ferguson made it a centerpiece of his campaign for office: more kids would fill out the FAFSA and apply for financial aid, he promised.
Those weren’t just well-intentioned ideals, dependent on the fiscal outlook. They were framed as bedrock values.
Sen. T’wina Nobles, D-Fircrest, has a bill that would restore aid for students at private universities, 62% of whom would be the first in their families to earn a degree. But it must be voted out of the Ways and Means Committee by Monday, Feb. 9, to advance. Nobles suggests paying for its $33 million price tag with money from the new Education Legacy Trust account, which is funded through capital gains taxes.
At $1.2 billion, the trust has more than enough to cover the cost through the next biennium.
The Washington Student Achievement Council administers both college aid programs, and its director, Mike Meotti, points out that education offers a bigger, faster return on investment than most other government spending. Rather than merely keeping people afloat, higher education actually helps them get ahead.
So how serious are lawmakers about confronting Washington’s very real affordability crisis? Helping more low-income kids pay for college would be a powerful way to signal an answer to that question.
Editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Ryan Blethen, Melissa Davis, Josh Farley, Alex Fryer, Claudia Rowe, Carlton Winfrey, Frank A. Blethen (emeritus) and William K. Blethen (emeritus).
But that’s what lawmakers did last year. Facing down a deficit of more than $7 billion, they slashed tuition aid awarded through two programs: the Washington College Grant and the College Bound Scholarship.
Those cuts are scheduled to take effect this fall.
But lawmakers did not squeeze all students equally.
Those attending the University of Washington and other public institutions can get their tuition covered annually through the Washington College Grant if their family incomes qualify.
But students enrolling at private schools — like Gonzaga or Pacific Lutheran University — who used to get a flat rate of about $9,700, will see their grants cut by a third, to $6,500.
Simultaneously, the College Bound Scholarship — which taps low-income kids in middle school and promises up to six years of higher education funding if they maintain decent marks — would be cut by nearly half for students enrolling in private institutions.
Talk about mixed messages.
Washington says education is the state’s paramount duty.
Business leaders, who see a knowledgeable workforce as essential to the economy, have been beating the bushes to get more high school graduates enrolled in college or career training, especially those from low-income families. And Gov.
Bob Ferguson made it a centerpiece of his campaign for office: more kids would fill out the FAFSA and apply for financial aid, he promised.
Those weren’t just well-intentioned ideals, dependent on the fiscal outlook. They were framed as bedrock values.
Sen. T’wina Nobles, D-Fircrest, has a bill that would restore aid for students at private universities, 62% of whom would be the first in their families to earn a degree. But it must be voted out of the Ways and Means Committee by Monday, Feb. 9, to advance. Nobles suggests paying for its $33 million price tag with money from the new Education Legacy Trust account, which is funded through capital gains taxes.
At $1.2 billion, the trust has more than enough to cover the cost through the next biennium.
The Washington Student Achievement Council administers both college aid programs, and its director, Mike Meotti, points out that education offers a bigger, faster return on investment than most other government spending. Rather than merely keeping people afloat, higher education actually helps them get ahead.
So how serious are lawmakers about confronting Washington’s very real affordability crisis? Helping more low-income kids pay for college would be a powerful way to signal an answer to that question.
Editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Ryan Blethen, Melissa Davis, Josh Farley, Alex Fryer, Claudia Rowe, Carlton Winfrey, Frank A. Blethen (emeritus) and William K. Blethen (emeritus).