FINAL BILL REPORT

2SSB 5851

C 244 L 15

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Concerning recommendations of the college bound scholarship program work group.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Frockt, Kohl-Welles, Miloscia, Liias, Mullet, Pedersen, Nelson and McAuliffe).

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

House Committee on Higher Education

House Committee on Appropriations

Background: College Bound Scholarship (CBS) Program. In 2007 the Legislature created the CBS Program to provide a tuition scholarship program for low-income students. The scholarship is open to seventh and eighth graders who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and sign a pledge to graduate from high school with a 2.0 grade point average or higher and no felony convictions. Students in foster care are automatically enrolled. At the time of high school graduation, eligible students must have a family income of 65 percent of the state median family income or below.

The CBS award amounts are calculated as the difference between public institution tuition and required fees, less the value of any state-funded grant, scholarship, or waiver assistance the student receives, plus $500 for books. All scholarship recipients are limited to no more than four full-time years' worth of scholarship awards and the scholarship award must be used within five years of receipt.

The Office of Student Financial Aid, within the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), is the administrator of the Program. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) must notify elementary, middle, and junior high schools about the Program and to work with WSAC to develop application collection and student tracking procedures. Currently OSPI contracts with the College Success Foundation to increase CBS middle and high school students’ knowledge and awareness of post-secondary opportunities.

CBS Program Work Group. During the 2014 Session, the Legislature created a work group to make recommendations to ensure the CBS program is viable, productive, and effective. The 11-member work group included two senators and two representatives. The work group met four times in 2014. The final report contains 12 recommendations for the CBS program within the following categories: data, student supports, communications, statutory changes, and funding.

Summary: The Legislature finds that a comprehensive review of the CBS Program in 2014 resulted in unanimous recommendations to improve and enhance certain components of the program, including data collection, outreach, and program outcomes.

When determining CBS eligibility, the first quarter of Running Start grades must be excluded from the student's overall GPA if the student has less than a C average and has completed less than two quarters in the Running Start Program.

WSAC must:

• work with other state agencies, law enforcement, or the court system to verify that eligible students do not have felonies;

• notify tenth-grade CBS students and their families of the income requirements for CBS eligibility;

• develop comprehensive social media outreach with grade-level specific information to keep students on track to graduate and leverage current tools such as the High School and Beyond Plan and WSAC's Ready Set Grad website; and

• collaborate with educational organizations to map and coordinate mentoring and advising resources across the state, within existing resources.

Each college or university is encouraged to tailor advising resources for CBS recipients. The institutions should identify campus officials and other resources.

Beginning January 1, 2015, and at a minimum every year thereafter, WSAC and the colleges and universities must ensure that the data needed to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the CBS program is promptly transmitted to the Education Research and Data Center. Data reported must include, but not be limited to the following:

• the number of students who sign up for the CBS program in seventh or eighth grade;

• the number of CBS students who graduate from high school;

• the number of CBS students who enroll in postsecondary education;

• persistence and completion rates of CBS recipients;

• CBS recipient GPA;

• the number of CBS recipients who did not remain eligible and why;

• CBS program costs; and

• impacts to the State Need Grant program.

By December 1, 2018, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) must compete an evaluation of the CBS program and report to the Legislature. WSIPP’s report must complement studies on the CBS program by the University of Washington or others. To the extent it is not duplicative, the report must evaluate education outcomes emphasizing degree completion rates at both secondary and postsecondary levels. The report must study certain aspects of the CBS program, including but not limited to the following:

• CBS recipient GPA;

• variance in remediation between CBS recipients and their peers;

• differences in persistence between CBS recipients and their peers; and

• the impact of ineligibility for the CBS program, for reasons such as moving to Washington after middle school or a change in family income.

Votes on Final Passage: