FINAL BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1587

                         C 173 L 93

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Helping single parents obtain a higher education.

By House Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Ogden, Wood, J. Kohl, Jacobsen, Forner, Quall, Ludwig, Pruitt, Jones, Basich, King, Johanson, Thibaudeau, R. Meyers, Kessler, Bray, Dorn, Karahalios, Roland, Eide, Sheldon, Kremen, Finkbeiner, Veloria, Morris, Hansen, Leonard, Van Luven, H. Myers and L. Johnson).

House Committee on Higher Education

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Background:  According to a study commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, single parent college students have a variety of financial and other needs.  These include money for tuition, books, basic living expenses, basic health care, safe and affordable child care, and housing. 

Washington provides financial assistance to needy students, including single parents, through a variety of programs.  These programs attempt to cover each student's educational costs, but are normally based on the needs profile of an average student.  If a financial aid package is not sufficient to cover a student's financial needs, the student must request additional funds from the institution's financial aid office.  Often, the office does not have enough money to cover those extra expenses, so the student must accept a loan, find additional work, or manage without additional funds.

One source of financial aid at public colleges and universities is money in the institutional long-term loan fund.  Of the revenue collected from tuition and services and activities fees, 2.5 percent is deposited in the fund.  The fund was originally created to provide long-term and short-term loans to needy resident students.  Any monies that are not used for loans may be directed to institutional operating budgets or to locally administered financial aid programs.  When the monies in the fund are used for financial aid, priority is given to needy students with excessive loan burdens.  Technical colleges do not have institutional long-term loan funds.

At most colleges and universities, a basic financial aid award may include a minimal grant for child care.  Since the fall of 1990, the state Need Grant Program has provided a child care grant of $400 per year for full-time students and $200 per year for part-time students.  The federal Pell Grant also provides some child care assistance.  However, financial aid administrators report that these amounts, while helpful, will only cover about one-half the child care costs needed for one child during an academic year.  These two financial aid programs are the only programs that recognize the costs associated with child care.

Summary:  When determining financial aid awards from an institutional long-term loan fund, each institution of higher education will give second priority to needy single parents.  The awards are intended to assist single parents with their educational expenses, including expenses associated with child care and transportation.

Monies in an institutional long-term loan fund may not be transferred to an institutional operating budget.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  98 0

Senate 43 1

Effective:  July 25, 1993