Earlier this session the state House voted to expand the state’s college grant program, and on Tuesday, February 15, they followed up with legislation establishing a low-cost, one-percent student-loan program.
Following a one-time allocation from the state, the self-sustaining program would make more than 300 million dollars a year available to qualifying students. Putting a college education within reach for thousands of Washington students has been a long-time goal for the bill’s sponsor, Democratic House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan. Here’s Sullivan on the House floor:
SULLIVAN: “Where we can, we need to provide grants and awards to students so that they don’t have to rack up high debt, but students who are going to college wind up many times having to access high-interest loans that put them in a bad situation after they graduate, putting home ownership out of reach, in some cases not even being able to get auto loans. This bill, I will admit, won’t solve all of our problems, but it offers another tool for students, to help them be successful.”
The House vote on Sullivan’s student-loan bill was the capstone of House action on Tuesday, the final day for the chamber to act on its bills and send them to the Senate. The Legislature has until March 10 to give the bill a final OK and hand it over to Governor Jay Inslee’s signature.