Legislature continues to look at changes in college aid programs
As the Legislature works to find ways to make higher education more accessible to more people, lawmakers continue to differ on how much to spend on Washington’s largest scholarship program, or even what to call it.
That program is the State Need Grant, eligible to those at or below 70 percent of the state’s median family income, which is $61,500 for a family of four. But a quarter of eligible students, about 22,600, did not receive a scholarship in 2018 because money ran out.
The House is considering a broad bill on many forms of college aid with a significant expansion of the Need Grant program. It would increase the taxes on businesses most likely to benefit from workers with college degrees.
The bill was influenced by an op-ed from leaders at Microsoft, the University of Washington and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. They called for expanding higher education opportunities by asking large companies “to do a bit more” by paying a higher business and occupation tax.
Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/apr/07/legislature-continues-to-look-at-changes-in-colleg/