SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6142

2020 Regular Session

BySenate Higher Education & Workforce Development (originally sponsored by Senators Liias, Randall, Dhingra, Hasegawa, Mullet, Nguyen, Stanford, Carlyle, and Wilson, C.; by request of Lieutenant Governor)

READ FIRST TIME 02/06/20.

AN ACT Relating to creating the Washington common application; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes that while institutions of higher education generally intend to design admissions processes to be as equitable as possible, certain administrative barriers can create inequities with disproportionate negative impacts on underrepresented student populations. One such barrier includes the time and financial resources required for students to apply to multiple institutions each with their own unique application processes. Despite significant commonality among applications, students applying to multiple institutions must answer duplicative or similar questions from one application to the next, alter similar responses to accommodate different word count requirements, navigate separate fee waiver processes, and more. The time, money, and particular expertise required to successfully complete these applications creates an unnecessary administrative barrier that especially impacts students with competing obligations, such as job and familial responsibilities, as well as students who may lack access to college admissions resources. Research has shown that when institutions adopt a common application, they improve access for potential students, resulting in a larger and more diverse applicant pool. Given these facts, the legislature intends to direct institutions of higher education adopt a common application so that students may apply to all six public four-year institutions of higher education in Washington using the same application.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Subject to amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the public four-year institutions of higher education shall all enroll in the same preexisting online common application for use in admitting students by the 2022-23 academic year. The preexisting online common application adopted shall meet the following requirements:

(a) Includes more than five hundred institutional participants; and

(b) Has an established application fee waiver process for low-income students.

(2) Nothing in this section precludes a public institution of higher education from adopting a second preexisting online common application that meets the following requirements:

(a) Includes more than one hundred institutional participants; and

(b) Has an established application fee waiver process for low-income students.