College Bound Scholarship.

The College Bound Scholarship (CBS) program provides guaranteed four-year tuition to students from low-income families.  Eligible students for the CBS include those who:

• qualify for free or reduced-price lunches in the seventh grade, eighth grade, or in certain circumstances, ninth grade; or
• are independent from parents or guardians, or are receiving extended foster care services; and
  • are in grades 7 through 12; or
  • are between the ages of 18 and 21 and have not graduated from high school.

A student may also be eligible if they were a dependent who was adopted between the ages of 14 and 18 with a negotiated adoption agreement that includes continued eligibility in the CBS program.

Beginning in the seventh grade, eligible students are automatically enrolled in the CBS by the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC).  Students and parents are notified of the student's eligibility and the scholarship's requirements.  To receive the CBS, a student must graduate from high school with at least a C grade point average, have no felony convictions, and have a family income that does not exceed 65 percent of the state median family income.

The CBS recipients who attend public two-year or four-year institutions of higher education receive an award to cover the cost of tuition and fees, minus any state-funded grant, scholarship, or waiver assistance.  The CBS recipient also receives $500 for books and materials.  The student must maintain satisfactory academic progress and may not receive the scholarship for more than four full-time years.

All higher education institutions that participate in the CBS program are required to submit certain CBS data to the Education Research and Data Center (ERDC) annually for the purpose of analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of the CBS program.  The WSAC is also required to submit student unit record data for the CBS program to the ERDC. 

For CBS eligible students enrolling in a postsecondary education institution for the first time beginning with the 2023-24 academic year, a C grade point average is required only for those students seeking direct admission to a public or private four-year institution of higher education.

Additional data points on grade point averages are added to the information that higher education institutions must submit to the ERDC.  The ERDC must annually send the CBS data that is submitted by the higher education institutions to the WSAC beginning July 1, 2024.  The WSAC must submit an annual legislative report on the CBS data beginning November 1, 2024.