Oliver Twist, college bound.

Oliver Twist, college bound.

  • Fill yor bowl wif knowledge, young Oliver Twist! Yor college bound!

Here’s a silver lining to news of skyrocketing college tuition costs—if you’re a foster kid or an eighth grader from a low-income family (income chart and Q&A in this .pdf), the state will front the bill for your in-state college tuition.

All you have to do is sign a pledge by June 30th of your eighth-grade year promising to graduate from high school with a 2.0 GPA or higher, avoid committing any felonies, and get accepted to college in Washington, and through the College Bound Scholarship, the state will pay for all four years of your tuition (not covered by other state financial aid awards) plus offer you a $500 book stipend.

For kicks, here’s a surreal interview between Kube93 DJs Eddie and Karen, and Mayor Mike McGinn, discussing the scholarship and Seattle’s odds of getting another pro basketball team.

Former Stranger news writer Cienna Madrid has been a writer in residence for Richard Hugo House, a local literary nonprofit. There, she taught fiction classes and wrote 4/5 of a book about a death-row...

6 replies on “Hey Oliver! The State Wants to Pay for Your College Education”

  1. Wow, I really like the college incentive program, I really believe it can only be a good thing. Give teens a clear goal to shoot for right from the start of high school.

  2. In Massachusetts, when the state takes permanent custody of a child (as in, parental rights are terminated and the child lives in foster homes, group homes, or is adopted), that child can attend our state colleges and universities free of charge. My kids (adopted from foster care) may not end up taking advantage of it, but as a parent, it’s reassuring to know that even if we suffer a financial catastrophe, the boys won’t be locked out of college.

    I like seeing such a program extended to low-income families, but I wonder if the additional strings attached put higher education further out of reach of Washington’s foster children. Not that kids with felony convictions and sub 2.0 GPAs are likely to attend (or be accepted) to college, but I’d like to think that a kid who managed to turn his life around and get accepted to college wouldn’t be barred for something he did during a tumultuous upbringing in foster care.

  3. The richest country on earth simply should provide a free, quality college education to all of it’s citizens…no matter what their family earns.

    Maybe GE can pay for that? I hear they don’t pay taxes or how about the oil companies?

  4. @2 did you look at the income requirements? Family of two must make 27,000 OR LESS.

    How little money have you tried live off of recently? And were you able to promote intergenerational security?

  5. Uhm … I have always disagreed with the ‘2.0gpa’ or higher line when it comes to 100% free money in the form of grants.
    My current program, Early Childhood Education and Development at Bellevue College is flooded with dummies who don’t know the difference between concept and context and are maintaining an awesome 2.0 gpa through the Worksource grant. It should be at least a 2.5 or 3.0 FFS

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