(1) "Council" means the nine-member council of the Washington student achievement council.

(2) "Agency" refers to the Washington student achievement council.

(3) "Office" means the office of student financial assistance, a division of the Washington student achievement council.

(4) "Financial need" shall be determined in accordance with industry standards and provisions as recognized and modified by the office.

(5) The term "post-secondary institution" shall mean:

(a) Any public university, college, community college, or vocational-technical institute operated by the state of Washington, or any other university, college, or institute in the state of Washington offering instruction beyond the high school level which is a member institution of an approved accrediting association.

(b) Any institution, branch, extension or facility operating within the state of Washington which is affiliated with an institution operating in another state must be a separately accredited member institution of an approved accrediting association.

(c) The separate accreditation requirement is waived for branch campuses of out-of-state institutions if the branch campus:

(i) Is eligible to participate in federal student aid programs; and

(ii) Has operated as a nonprofit college or university delivering on-site classroom instruction for a minimum of twenty consecutive years within the state of Washington; and

(iii) Has an annual enrollment of at least seven hundred full-time equivalent students; or

(iv) Is a nonprofit institution recognized by the state of Washington as provided in RCW 28B.77.240.

(6) The term "approved accrediting association" shall mean a national or regional accrediting association that is recognized by the council and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and in alignment with WAC 250-61-050.

(7) "Washington resident" shall be defined as an individual who satisfies the requirements of RCW 28B.15.012 (2)(a) through (e) and office-adopted rules and regulations pertaining to the determination of residency.

(8) "Student budgets" is determined by institutions and subject to approval by the office. The student budget consists of that amount required to support an individual as a student for nine months and may take into consideration cost factors for maintaining the student's dependents.

(9) "Family income" is the student's family income for the calendar year as required for federal need analysis.

(a) "Income" means adjusted gross income and nontaxable income as reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or alternative application approved by the office.

(b) For the dependent student, "family income" means parental income including adjusted gross income and nontaxable income.

(c) For the independent student, "family income" means the income of the student and spouse, if any, reported as part of the student's family.

(d) The institutional aid administrator may adjust the family's income up or down to more accurately reflect the family's financial situation during the academic year. When such adjustments are made, they shall be consistent with guidelines for making changes to determine federal student aid eligibility and documented in the student's file.

(10) "Income cutoff" means the amount of family income below which a student is determined to be eligible for the Washington college grant.

At the discretion of the institution's aid administrator, a student who was eligible for a Washington college grant in the prior academic year may be deemed eligible if their family income increases by no more than three percent and family income is over the one hundred percent MFI level.

(11) "Median family income" is the median income for Washington state, adjusted by family size and number in college and as determined by the office using a federal standard.

(12) "Grant" is the Washington college grant award for each sector as defined in statute.

(13) "Academic year" is that period of time typically between July 1st and the following June 30th, and may include summer terms, during which a full-time student would normally be expected to complete the equivalent of two semesters or three quarters or nine hundred clock hours of instruction.

(14) "Clock hours" means a period of time which is the equivalent of either:

(a) A fifty to sixty minute class, lecture, or recitation; or

(b) A fifty to sixty minute period of faculty-supervised laboratory shop training or internship.

(15) "Apprenticeship payment period" means the time frame approved by the office for an apprenticeship program that is the equivalent of an academic year and usage rate of three quarters full-time equivalent.

(16) "Satisfactory academic progress" is the student's successful completion of a minimum number of credit or clock hours for each term in which the grant was received. Each school's policy for measuring progress of Washington college grant recipients must define satisfactory academic progress as the student's successful completion of the minimum number of credit or clock hours for which the aid was disbursed.

(a) The minimum satisfactory academic progress standard for full-time students is twelve credits per term or three hundred clock hours per term. Satisfactory academic progress for three-quarter time students is nine credits per term or two hundred twenty-five clock hours per term. Satisfactory academic progress for half-time students is six credits per term or one hundred fifty clock hours per term and for less than half-time students is three credits or seventy-five clock hours per term.

(b) Each school's satisfactory academic progress policy must deny further disbursements of state grant aid at the conclusion of any term in which they fail to complete at least one-half of the minimum number of credits or clock hours for which the aid was disbursed or otherwise fails to fulfill the conditions of the institution's satisfactory academic progress policy.

(c) The school may make disbursements to a student who is in a warning status. "Warning" is defined as completion of at least one-half, but less than all of the minimum number of credits for which the aid was calculated and disbursed. The school must have a satisfactory academic progress policy, approved by the office, which limits the number of terms in which a student may receive state grant aid while in a warning status.

(d) The school's aid administrator may at any time, using professional judgment exercised on a case-by-case basis, reinstate a student into a satisfactory academic progress status, in response to an individual student's extenuating circumstances.

(e) An institution may submit an alternative approach to evaluating satisfactory academic progress that includes a plan for improved student retention and comparison data to ensure state funds are used efficiently. The office will initially determine whether to approve the alternative policy, then evaluate it over a specified time frame, then determine whether the policy may continue to be approved.

(17) "Satisfactory program progress" is an apprentice's (qualifying under RCW 28B.92.200 (5)(b)(ii)) successful completion of a minimum number of hours for each apprenticeship payment period in which the grant was received. Each apprenticeship program's policy for measuring progress of Washington college grant recipients must define satisfactory program progress as the apprentice's successful completion of the minimum number of hours for which the aid was disbursed.

(a) A program's satisfactory program progress policy must be submitted to the office for approval and must be provided to the apprentice prior to or at the point of aid distribution.

(b) The program's aid administrator may at any time, using professional judgment exercised on a case-by-case basis, reinstate an apprentice into a satisfactory program progress status, in response to an individual apprentice's extenuating circumstances.

(18) The term "eligible program" shall mean a program encompassed within the institution's accreditation and be an eligible program for purposes of the federal Title IV student financial aid programs. Apprenticeships qualifying as eligible programs must be a registered apprenticeship program approved under chapter 49.04 RCW.

(19) "Tuition growth factor" means an increase of no more than the average annual percentage growth rate of the median hourly wage for Washington for the previous fourteen years as the wage is determined by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(20) "State grant" refers to all state grant programs administered by the office.

(21) "High school+ (HS+)" is a competency based high school diploma program for adult learners eighteen and older who do not have a high school diploma or equivalency.

(22) "Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program (I-BEST)" is a nationally recognized model that uses a team-teaching approach to quickly boost students' literacy while they learn job skills or academic subjects.