Eastern Washington University’s Faculty Organization has announced their support of Senate Bill 6043, which will permit Washington public universities access to information about student finances, grades, and other pertinent personal details relevant to financial aid. This bill would allow Washington universities to contact students to inform them that they are academically eligible for financial aid and other educational opportunities. The institution, however, must have a data sharing agreement with the office of the superintendent of public instruction in order for data sharing to occur. Eastern Washington’s Faculty Organization has a goal of making college affordable for future and current students through notifying them that there is money that they are qualified to receive based on academic performance.
Senate Bill 6053 only allows information sharing to happen for education purposes, “Data-sharing agreements entered into by a community college or technical college as defined in RCW 28B.50.030 are limited to informing Washington high school students of postsecondary educational opportunities available within a college’s service district.”
“I think the critical piece is being able to reach out to potential students and say we would like you to come to Eastern while having your tuition and fees covered,” said Samuel Ligon, the Faculty Organization’s representative in Olympia. The funding comes from Washington’s college grant. The faculty organization is pushing for the bill because they want to be able to reach students who without the knowledge of financial aid would not normally attend college. “Students don’t think they can afford school despite the State having the best financial aid in the country.” Ligon said. The information sharing bill will allow low income highschool students to take advantage of Washington State’s financial aid by notifying them that they qualify. Ligon established that the main reason for the Faculty Orgnaization’s support for this bill and a couple of others is because the Faculty organizations want to reduce the barriers and to increase access to higher education.
Senate Bill 6043 has already gained sponsorship from Senators Jeff Holy, John Lovick, Mark Mullet, Joe Nguyen, and Shewmake Valdez. The bill is the result of a request from the Student Achievement Council, a government agency that is primarily concerned with making higher education more attainable to residents in Washington.
Senate Bill 6043 has passed the chamber in the senate and is currently under review in the house on its second reading.
