Olympia— State Rep. Julia Reed (D- Seattle) continues her work with students and universities to expand friction-free pathways from high school to post secondary education for all Washingtonians. HB 1557, establishing the Washington Guaranteed Admission Program (WAGAP), passed the Post Secondary Education and Workforce Committee with bipartisan support. WAGAP automatically offers placement at most of Washington’s state funded universities to any qualified high school student graduate in Washington State, which generally means any student earning a 3.0 GPA or better who completes required pre-college coursework in high school. An estimated 300,000 jobs that require bachelor’s degrees stand to go unfilled in Washington state if more students don’t start pursuing a college degree.
“High school graduation rates are at a record high,” said Rep. Reed. “And Washington State continues to offer the most generous grant-based financial aid program for students in the nation. But we are still ranked almost last in the nation for number of students pursuing a post-secondary degree or credential. Our current system has too much bureaucracy, too much friction that slows students from making a postsecondary transition. That means we’re not preparing enough young people to enter the workforce.”
The program, which was highlighted during Gov. Bob Ferguson’s inaugural address, is based on one established in Idaho in 2015 and has already been successfully piloted with some school districts in Washington State. Ten other states have similar programs.
“By creating this statutory link between the K-12 system and our taxpayer funded higher education system, more students will know they belong in college,” added Rep. Reed. “We need their talent and skills in our state.”