Title 28B — Title 28B HIGHER EDUCATION

The legislature recognizes that increasing educational attainment is critical to the social and economic well-being of Washington. It is the intent of the legislature to create the student achievement council to provide the focus and propose the goals for increasing educational a…

(1) Guided by the state's overarching objective of substantially increasing educational attainment for the purposes outlined in RCW 28B.77.001, the council has a dual mission:(a) To propose to the governor and the legislature goals for increasing educational attainment in Washing…

(1) The student achievement council is created.(2) The council is composed of 10 voting members as provided in this subsection.(a) Six citizen members shall be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate. One of the citizen members shall be an undergraduate student a…

(1) The council shall designate a student loan advocate within the office to provide timely assistance to any student education loan borrower with any student education loan. The student loan advocate may hire additional staff as necessary to implement this section.(2) The studen…

The student loan advocate account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the purpose of covering the costs of administering the student loan advocate program created in RCW 28B.77.007. Only the executive director of th…

(1) The student loan advocate, established in RCW 28B.77.007, shall develop, and update annually as necessary, materials designed to increase awareness of the public service loan forgiveness program. Materials include, at a minimum:(a) A standardized letter for public service emp…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.(1) "Committee" means the joint higher education committee.(2) "Council" means the student achievement council.(3) "Education data center" means the education data center e…

(1) Aligned with the state's biennial budget and policy cycles, the council shall propose educational attainment goals and priorities to meet the state's evolving needs. The council shall identify strategies for meeting the goals and priorities by means of a short-term strategic …

(1) The council shall adopt bylaws and shall meet at least four times each year and at such other times as determined by the chair who shall give reasonable prior notice to the members.(2) Councilmembers are expected to consistently attend meetings. The chair of the council may r…

Councilmembers shall be compensated in accordance with RCW 43.03.240 and reimbursed for travel expenses incurred in carrying out the duties of the council in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.[ 2012 c 229 s 106.]

(1) The council shall employ an executive director. The executive director shall be appointed by the governor from a list of three names submitted by the council. However, the governor may request, and the council shall provide, an additional list or lists from which the governor…

The council has the authority to adopt rules as necessary to implement this chapter.[ 2012 c 229 s 108.]

The council is designated as the state commission as provided for in Section 1202 of the education amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-318), as now or hereafter amended; and shall perform such functions as is necessary to comply with federal directives pertaining to the provisions …

The council may administer any federal act pertaining to higher education which is not administered by another state agency.[ 2012 c 229 s 117; 2011 1st sp.s. c 11 s 108; 1985 c 370 s 21; 1975 1st ex.s. c 132 s 12. Prior: 1969 ex.s. c 263 s 3. Formerly RCW 28B.76.510, 28B.80.210,…

(1) The council shall identify budget priorities and levels of funding for higher education, including the two and four-year institutions of higher education and state financial aid programs. It is the intent of the legislature for the council to make budget recommendations for a…

(1) The council shall develop a comprehensive and ongoing assessment process to analyze the need for additional degrees and programs, additional off-campus centers and locations for degree programs, and consolidation or elimination of programs by the four-year institutions of hig…

(1) An accountability monitoring and reporting system is established as part of a continuing effort to make meaningful and substantial progress towards the achievement of long-term performance goals in higher education.(2) To provide consistent, easily understood data among the p…

(1)(a) In consultation with the education data center, institutions of higher education, and state education agencies, the council shall identify the data needed to carry out its responsibilities for policy analysis and public information. The primary goals of the council's data …

Within existing resources, the student achievement council, the workforce training and education coordinating board, and the department of licensing shall collaborate to create a single portal for student complaints regarding issues related to consumer protection, disclosures, sc…

(1) Subject to availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the suicide prevention in higher education grant program is established. The purpose of the grant program is to provide funding to postsecondary institutions for the institutions to create partnerships…

The council shall annually publish on its website the agreed-upon list of high school courses qualifying for postsecondary credit under RCW 28B.10.053 and qualifying examination scores and demonstrated competencies meeting the postsecondary requirements for a certificate or techn…

The council shall adopt statewide transfer and articulation policies that ensure efficient transfer of credits and courses across public two and four-year institutions of higher education. The intent of the policies is to create a statewide system of articulation and alignment be…

The statewide transfer of credit policy and agreement must be designed to facilitate the transfer of students and the evaluation of transcripts, to better serve persons seeking information about courses and programs, to aid in academic planning, and to improve the review and eval…

(1) The council must convene work groups to develop transfer associate degrees that will satisfy lower division requirements at public four-year institutions of higher education for specific academic majors. Work groups must include representatives from the state board for commun…

(1) The council, the state board for community and technical colleges, the council of presidents, the four-year institutions of higher education, the private independent higher education institutions, and the private career schools shall collaborate to carry out the following goa…

(1) The council may:(a) Recognize and endorse online, competency-based education as an important component of Washington's higher education system;(b) Work to eliminate unnecessary barriers to the delivery of online competency-based education by Western Governors University - Was…

(1) To the extent funds are appropriated for this purpose, the council, with input from the office of the superintendent of public instruction; the department of children, youth, and families; the department of commerce office of homeless youth prevention and protection programs;…

(1) The council's rules or other requirements for institutions to participate in state financial aid programs shall assure that contracts between postsecondary institutions participating in state financial aid programs, as defined in RCW 28B.10.287, and financial institutions or …

(1) The council shall adopt a centralized online statewide calculator tool for the purposes of estimating federal Pell grant and Washington college grant awards for all public four-year institutions of higher education in Washington state.(2) The tool must provide an estimate of …

(1) The council shall ensure that a postsecondary institution participating in the state student financial aid program has a gift equity packaging policy allowing for a student who receives a private scholarship to receive up to 100 percent of the student's unmet need, as determi…

(1) In collaboration with financial aid experts from public four-year and two-year institutions of higher education, as well as independent colleges in Washington state, the Washington student achievement council shall develop clear, consistent definitions for institutions of hig…

Subject to availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the student achievement council shall conduct a statewide marketing campaign to increase awareness of the Washington college grant program established in chapter 28B.92 RCW. The student achievement council…

(1) The workforce education investment accountability and oversight board is established. The board consists of 18 members, as provided in this subsection:(a) Four members of the legislature consisting of the chairs and ranking minority members of the respective higher education …

(1) Subject to availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the postsecondary wrestling grant program is created. The purpose of the postsecondary wrestling grant program is to provide funding to institutions of higher education to establish or maintain interco…

(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, each public four-year institution of higher education and a public tribal college located in Washington and accredited by the northwest commission on colleges and universities or another accreditin…

(1) All powers, duties, and functions of the higher education coordinating board are transferred to the student achievement council. All references to the executive director or the higher education coordinating board in the Revised Code of Washington shall be construed to mean th…