House passes more than half-dozen higher education bills

Washington lawmakers continue to promote access to high-demand careers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 6, 2009

OLYMPIA –Passing more than a half-dozen higher education bills yesterday, legislators in the House are remaining focused on helping more people go to college and training for high-demand careers.

HB 1328, sponsored by Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-Queen Anne), will help more students go on to four-year colleges by allowing technical colleges the authority to offer academic transfer degrees, something that only community colleges are able to do today.

This will help Washington produce more graduates in fields like computer science, engineering, construction management and health care—fields where employer demand outpaces the supply of qualified graduates.

“This is about increasing our state’s bandwidth to meet the marketplace’s surging demand for highly skilled workers with bachelor’s degrees,” Carlyle said. “This legislation would bring down the silos in higher education and make it easier for students to move among sectors, colleges and universities.”

As it stands right now, coursework at a technical college can transfer to a four-year institution only in a bachelor’s degree program that is closely matched to a student’s technical degree. Community colleges, on the other hand, can offer technical and academic transfer degrees, allowing students more flexibility.

Under Carlyle’s bill, technical college graduates with these academic transfer degrees can more easily acquire the baccalaureate-level degrees required by increasingly more employers today.

Building a brighter future for low-income students, Rep. Tim Probst (D-Vancouver) introduced a bill that provides greater access to high-demand careers. By providing opportunity internships, Probst’s HB 1355 aims to train more students for living wage jobs and decrease high school dropout rates.

The bill would work by:
- Supporting local groups that create channels to get students from high school into careers;
- Offering internships, a year of financial aid and other opportunities to students completing certain programs; and,
- Giving a $2,000 incentive payment to a local group for successfully placing a student in a job

“Opportunity Internships are life-changing for some students. They provide a connection to the real working world, and help students understand the relevance of their education. We can show students what great things they can achieve,” Probst said. “Opportunity Internships are a way to reengage at-risk students while also helping local industries grow.”

Other higher education bills that made it through the House yesterday include:
• HB 1323: Providing for coordination of workforce and economic development.
• HB 1312: Eliminating the exclusive authority of the University of Washington and Washington State University to offer certain engineering courses.
• HB 1640: Modifying disclosure requirements for private investment information received by the University of Washington consolidated endowment fund.
• HB 1474: Changing border county opportunity program provisions.
• HB 1025: Requiring disclosure of certain information relating to higher education course materials.

# # #